SALT LAKE CITY -- Residents who could have health insurance through their employers but can't afford their share of the premium have a new opportunity to have the state reimburse them for those costs, the Utah Department of Health said Monday.

The Utah Premium Partnership for Health Insurance program would reimburse workers $150 per adult and $100 per child for premiums they've paid to their employee health plan. There is no limit to the number of family members.

There are 292,800 uninsured people in Utah, according to a survey released last year by the health department.

"Two-thirds or about 60 percent say the cost of health insurance is the reason they lack coverage," David Sundwall, executive director of the health department, said at a news conference.

The program is the result of legislation passed last year to help increase participation in a similar program called "Covered at Work."

That program subsidized workers at a rate of $50 per month only for their own premiums, not for coverage of family members, said Rep. James Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, a health insurance broker.

Dunnigan said low participation made it clear that program was inadequate. The new plan uses a modest amount of state money combined with federal funds to increase the reimbursement and allow all family members to participate in the same program, he said.

"The whole family can be on a private sector plan. It's not a government program, so they can feel good about that," Dunnigan said.

Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, the bill's co-sponsor along with Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake City, said Monday's announcement was a step in the right direction but that he hoped funding for the program would be increased.

He said the plan's funding caps it at reimbursements for about 1,000 people.

To qualify, applicants must not already be covered by health insurance; they must be employed and their employer must offer a health insurance plan where the employer pays at least 50 percent of the premium; and they must meet income guidelines in which the least expensive health care option is more than 5 percent of their total household income before taxes.

Applications for the program will be accepted by the Department of Health beginning Wednesday. Those interested should apply before their health coverage or open enrollment period begins.

Meanwhile, a national consumer health report found Utah families are paying more but receiving less in health care coverage, and that skyrocketing health care costs are causing more Utahns to go into debt.

According to Families USA, health care premiums in Utah grew 7.3 times faster than the earnings of Utah's working families in the period from 2000 through 2006.

In that six-year period, annual health care premiums in Utah jumped 71.8 percent from $6,305 to $10,832, while the annual median earnings of Utah workers grew only 9.9 percent from $21,497 to $23,620.

The report says the confluence of higher health costs, stagnant wages and thinner coverage -- or coverage that offers fewer benefits or that comes with higher deductibles and co-payments -- is causing a growing number of Utah families to join the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured.

According to Families USA, the number of non-elderly uninsured people in Utah is more than 376,000 -- approximately 16.6 percent of the non-elderly population.

Premium costs paid by Utah employers and workers also have increased substantially, and the report cites a study that found more than half of Utah's bankruptcies are due in part to problems with medical costs.

For family health coverage in Utah, the employer's portion of annual premiums in the six-year period jumped 61 percent from $4,861 to $7,810. But the worker's portion of annual premiums skyrocketed 109 percent from $1,444 to $3,022.

For individual health coverage, the employer's portion of annual premiums rose 46 percent from $2,003 to $2,926, while the workers' portion of annual premiums grew 27 percent from $582 to $741.

"If this troubling trend continues, the health care affordability crisis will get much worse and many more Utahns will become uninsured and underinsured," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. "If earnings continue to lag behind fast-rising health care costs, Utahns will face diminishing economic and health security."