It's already September, and 2009 is fast approaching. As such, many employers are trying to figure out how they'll offer group health insurance to their employees next year.

Apparently, they'll do it by raising workers' deductibles, copays, or out-of-pocket spending limits.

A survey by Mercer Consulting addressed group health insurance this week, finding that if health-care costs grow at the same rate they've been for the past two years - roughly 6% - they will still outpace inflation and workers' wages.

In order to deal with this increase, BizJournals.com reports that most employers will keep costs down by raising their employees' portion of group health insurance costs.

What does this mean for workers? That it will be even more expensive to hang on to group health insurance next year, unless modifications are made to the insurance industry as a whole. Group health insurance tends to be the most affordable, and is usually easier to get than individual coverage.

However, with fewer employers able to cover families and dependents, many employees are finding that some of those benefits aren't paying like they used to.

Which is bad for employers too, since many employees will go where the benefits are, even if that means taking a job with a larger company over smaller and family owned businesses.