New Jersey’s health benefits costs paid by employers and employees increased more than the nation’s this year, new research indicates.

Total health benefit costs for workers in New Jersey increased 7.1% in 2009, to an average of $10,951 per employee, according to the annual Mercer National Study of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans. A total of 74 employers headquartered in New Jersey were included in the state results.

Nationally, employers’ costs rose by 5.5% last year, the lowest increase in a decade, as large employers added health management programs and small-business owners shifted employees to account-based high-deductible plans, according to Mercer.

For 2010, survey respondents in New Jersey estimated that if they made no changes to their current plan costs would rise by 10.2%. But they expect to lower their cost increase to 6.6% by making changes to plan design and/or plan vendors, Mercer reported.

In New Jersey, 43% of respondents say they will shift costs to their employees in 2010 by raising deductibles, copays/coinsurance or out-of-pocket maximums. Almost half (40%) of respondents in New Jersey say they will increase employees’ share of the premium contribution, and 14% will increase employee cost-sharing some other way.

Some means of lowering costs are already in place. In New Jersey, 16% of respondents offered a consumer-directed health plan with a Health Savings Account feature and 7% of respondents offered a CDHP plan with a Health Resources Account feature in 2009.

Exactly 24% of survey participants in New Jersey say they are very likely to offer an HSA or HRA in 2010, including those that already offer a CDHP).

Most New Jersey workers (77%) are enrolled in a PPO/POS plan, while another 16% are in HMOs, 6% are in CDHPs and 1% are in traditional indemnity plans, Mercer reported.

The average employee in New Jersey paid $93 a month for employee-only coverage for a PPO/POS plan, $85 monthly for an HMO and $53 monthly for a CDHP, Mercer found.

Nationally, PPO deductibles rose sharply in 2009, with the average individual deductible for in-network services reaching nearly $1,100. Regionally, employers in the South reported a median PPO in-network deductible of $1,000.