Employee health-insurance premiums rose another 5% this year, says a widely watched annual survey published today. That’s a milder increase than those seen a few years back, the WSJ notes.

Overall, families are paying an average of $12,680 per year in premiums. But dig a little deeper into the report and it becomes clear that there’s really wide variation around that average figure — 18% of workers with family coverage have a premium that’s at least 20% higher than average, and similar number have a premium that’s at least 20% lower than average.

That variation is a reflection of just how broad the meaning of insurance has become. Is it a blanket that will cover every dollar of health-care spending anybody could ever want, or a net that will save you from being bankrupted by health costs but leave you on the hook for thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket spending? It depends on where you work and, in many cases, which plan you choose.

Indeed, the report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust found that firms that are rolling out new plans have lower average premiums than firms that don’t have any new offerings — a sign that suggests employers are offering more of the limited plans that are affordable but offer thinner coverage.

The survey also found that high-deductible plans, which typically have lower premiums and are tied to health-savings accounts, have slowly grown more popular in the past few years:

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