If your employer provides health insurance, next year, more than likely, they'll pass more of the cost on to you. There are several reasons for the increased costs: new technologies, new medicines, and the new health care reform bill signed into law by President Obama. Susan Sheldon, president of Sheldon Insurance Services in La Quinta, says the cost of premiums will increase anywhere from 15-to-18-percent on average, with an estimated three-percent of that cost increase attributed to the national healthcare plan.