ROCKVILLE, MD, United States -- Researchers in Maryland say more workers are finding they can’t pay for the kind health insurance benefits provided by the nation's largest employers.

According to a yearly survey conducted by the federal Agency for Health Research and Quality in Rockville, Md., big companies are ever more passing on higher insurance costs to their workers, the Wall Street Journal reports.

'Large employers aren't stopping coverage, but what they're doing is passing on more of the cost of insurance to their workers,' says Jim Branscome, study statistician for the agency that polled more than 45,000 offices, plants and other worksites.