"Annual increases in employer penalties and cost-sharing limits are determined by what the law defines as the premium adjustment percentage ... But the law provides wide latitude to the HHS secretary to estimate average premium growth ... [T]his key cost-indexing factor will be tied only to the rise in employer-sponsored insurance premiums -- estimated by Medicare actuaries to be 4.2%.... HHS said that including all private insurance -- as it originally intended -- would have yielded a 6% average hike. With that yardstick measure, deductibles would peak at $6,700 per adult next year. Employer penalties would rise to $3,180."  MORE >>