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WASHINGTON (AP)_ More workers are passing when it comes to their companies' health insurance benefits because they can't afford the cost, a study says.

The percentage of eligible employees who enrolled in their companies' health insurance plans declined from 85.3 percent in 1998 to 80.3 percent in 2003. During that same time, insurance premiums for individuals jumped more than $1,000 nationally -- from about $2,400 to about $3,400 a year.

Employers bore the brunt of that increase. They continue to pay about 83 percent of the costs of their workers' health insurance. But workers are finding it harder to come up with their share, says the report, which was published Thursday and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota analyzed the numbers for the report and broke them down state-by-state. They looked at surveys that the federal government conducts each year with employers. They found the largest declines in coverage of private-sector workers occurred in New Jersey, 11.7 percent; Nebraska 10.5 percent; and Wisconsin, 9.4 percent.

Then, the Urban Institute, a liberal think tank, looked at another survey from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which asked why people were uninsured. More than half of respondents blamed costs.

"The importance of high costs as a reason for being uninsured has risen rapidly," the report states.

The report said young adults, those ages 19-34, are more likely to be uninsured than older adults. Also, Hispanics are more likely to be uninsured, which reflects that many non-citizens are employed in low-wage jobs that don't offer health benefits, plus they're ineligible for public coverage in most states, the report says