Big employers expect health costs to continue rising by about 6 percent in 2017, a moderate increase compared with historical trends that nevertheless far outpaces growth in the economy, two new surveys show.

“These cost increases, while stable, are both unsustainable and unacceptable,” said Brian Marcotte, CEO of the National Business Group on Health, a coalition of very large employers that got responses from 133 companies.

Employers are changing tactics to address the trend, slowing the shift to worker cost sharing and instead offering video or telephone links to doctors, scrutinizing specialty-drug costs and steering patients to hospitals with records of lower costs and better results.

Most large-company employees should expect a 5 percent increase in their premiums next year and, in contrast to previous years, “minimal changes” to plan designs, NBGH said.

The portion of employers offering high-deductible health plans next year — 84 percent — is essentially unchanged from 2016, according to the NBGH report. So is the percentage of companies offering high-deductible plans — 35 percent — as the only choice for workers and families.

Patients with high-deductible coverage pay thousands of dollars in medical costs before the insurance kicks in.

Counting cost-control measures, companies responding to NBGH’s survey expect their net health expenses to rise by 5 percent next year.

A survey of hundreds of employers by consultants Willis Towers Watson showed similar results.