For the second year in a row, companies are seeing percentage increases in their health care premiums measure in the single digits rather than the double-digits absorbed earlier in the decade, according to a new survey of Tri-State area firms.

The survey released today by Pittsburgh-based Cowden Associates also showed that employers are finding other ways to manage costs "aside from just transferring costs off their plate onto the employees' plate," said Vincent Wolf, executive vice president at the consulting firm.

Employers in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia saw premiums rise an average of 6.3 percent this year vs. 9 percent in 2006, according to the poll. That compares with average annual increases ranging from 12.8 percent to 15 percent during the previous four years.

The survey included 335 employers, 170 of them in southwestern Pennsylvania.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

First Published: March 14, 2007, 4:00 a.m.