By the way, I think it would make an interesting case study to take an exhaustive look at the national coverage of this year's edition of this particular survey, which many consider to be the gold standard, and compare how the various outlets wrote this story.

I'm oversimplifying here, but the study, conducted in a deal with the National Business Group on Health, basically came to a two-pronged conclusion: One, health care costs are still climbing faster than inflation; and, two, employers (at least the larger ones) will keep offering them anyway. So what's the real story?

The natural inclination is to lead with one more "Health care costs are out of control," doomsday picket sign, since that sermon draws bigger crowds to the square than "Everything's just fine." (In fact, don't the police usually follow that up with "Move along. Nothing to see here"?)

But nothing happens in a vacuum. This year's survey drops under the pall of a Supreme Court decision that endorsed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, although somewhat half-heartedly.

It's a survey that reporters are writing about as the campaign rhetoric heats up on last leg of an election cycle that feels like it began the day after President Obama signed the bill into law more than two years ago. It's one more stack of employer numbers that's followed months of increasingly anemic job reports.

On closer inspection, it's a testament to employers' commitment—at least in the short term—to offering health care to their employees. Not a single one of the 512 employers surveyed said they were likely to "discontinue health care plans for active employees and direct employees to the exchanges with no financial subsidy." That's a hell of an endorsement that failed to make a single news headline. (Although I saw that at least one blogger over at the Washington Post reported it.)

One more thing lost in the finer print of the survey: While, sure, health care costs rage on, outpacing inflation—and even the cost of gas—the other side of the story is that health care costs have actually stabilized, hovering around the 5 percent to 7 percent range over the last five years. You won't read that over on CNN.com.

Now I know everyone Towers Watson polled employed at least 1,000 people, so we're admittedly not talking about small businesses here, but I still think it's a more encouraging economic indicator than our GDP's been in years.

Of course, as the editor of a magazine whose business is covering these plans, I'm a little biased.

(There, I said it. Happy now?)