People like their health insurance plans more than their cable TV service, but less than their pharmacies and real-estate agents, according to a new Consumer Reports survey.

About two thirds of people say they are “very” or “completely satisfied” with their current health insurance plan, even as their median annual out-of-pocket costs for premiums rose 38% over the last two years, according to the survey.

Two years ago, the organization’s survey found that 67% of consumers considered themselves “very” or “completely” satisfied with their health insurance plan. This year, the figure was 64%.

Mandy Walker, senior project editor for Consumer Reports, called it “a lukewarm response” compared to the 2007 results.

“In terms of services we rate, that puts satisfaction with health insurance above satisfaction with cable TV, a perennial whipping post, but below pharmacies and real-estate agents,” Walker added in a statement.

Eighty-four percent of the 37,481 subscribers who reported their experiences over the course of a year were in an employer-based plan, which they could keep under most health-reform proposals now before Congress.

Annual out-of-pocket costs for plan premiums were up 38% from two years ago for both those in HMOs and PPOs. Respondents to the survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center reported a median premium cost of $1,829, an increase of about $500 since 2006.

The survey results also indicate that choosing an HMO over a PPO seems like a “smarter choice” than in the past, according to Consumer Reports. While overall satisfaction scores were similar, respondents in HMOs paid less for premiums than people in PPOs ($1,466 compared with $2,003) and less out of pocket on their medical bills. Among PPO members who were seriously ill, 69% paid $1,000 or more on bills, while only 47% of seriously ill people in HMOs spent that much, the survey found.

In the past, HMO members who were seriously ill had more trouble getting access to care, but this time there was little difference: Of HMO members who were ill, 15% had problems getting care, compared with 14% of PPO members, the results showed.

Survey respondents with PPOs had more trouble with their bills. Overall, 24% of people in PPOs had a billing problem, while 11% of HMO members had similar issues. Moreover, 33% of PPO members who reported having a serious illness had billing problems compared to just 14% of seriously ill HMO patients, results showed.

Exactly 20% of PPO members also said they had trouble with telephone customer support and were more likely to contact the plan several times to get a problem solved, versus 12% of those in HMOs, the survey found.

For the first time, Consumer Reports asked subscribers about using plan Web sites to seek information, forms, and customer support. HMOs came out on top again, and had top-notch scores for ease of navigation, easy access to forms, and online help.