A new report from a health care watchdog group names Connecticut the third worst state in the country for disparities in health care.

The report shows more than 300,000 people in Connecticut don?t have health coverage and that many who do, can?t afford to pay it because their salaries can?t keep up with the high cost of health care premiums.

A second report by Families USA shows health care premiums went up 80 percent from 2000 to 2007, while salaries only increased about 10 percent.

Health experts say a number of factors are causing the rise in health premiums, including increasing energy costs and greedy health insurance companies, leaving the middle class and the poor suffering the most.

Community Health Care Centers, such as Southwest in Bridgeport, are offering low cost medical care for the underinsured or uninsured, but experts say that these services are also becoming too expensive.