DETROIT — Employer health benefit expenses will increase at a slower pace in 2008, as more companies shift costs to employees and prescription drug prices rise at a slower pace, according to the second annual report on medical cost trends from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Next year, health costs will increase 9.9 percent for three of the main types of insurance benefit plans. That's significant compared with previous double-digit increases in the 1990s.

Health-cost increases are "running nearly parallel to the overall rate of inflation," according to the report.

PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute compiled the findings by surveying the nation's five largest, private health insurance companies, representing more than 30 million members, and analyzing government and other publicly available data.

Employers and insurance plans use medical cost trend reports to determine benefit packages employers offer each fall. They are an early indicator of how much a consumer and employer's portion of health premiums will rise. A 10 percent cost trend, for example, indicates that a plan that cost $8,000 for one employee one year would cost $8,800 the next.

In 2007, health benefits rose 11.9 percent for preferred provider organizations, 11.8 percent for health maintenance organizations and 10.7 percent for point-of-service plans, according to the report. These plans cover 93 percent of employees at companies with more than 200 employees, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. All three types of health plans rein in costs but differ in access to healthcare providers.

Four factors drive lower health costs: