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Spending on health care in the United States grew in 2013 at the lowest rate since the federal government began tracking it in 1960, the Obama administration said Wednesday. It was the fifth straight year of exceptionally small increases in the closely watched indicator. The data defied critics who had said such slow growth would not continue for long once the recession ended in mid-2009. (Pear, 12/3)

National health spending grew 3.6 percent in 2013, the lowest annual increase since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began tracking the statistic in 1960, officials said Wednesday. Spending slowed for private health insurance, Medicare, hospitals, physicians and clinical services and out-of-pocket spending by consumers. However, it accelerated for Medicaid and for prescription drugs, according to the report, published online by the journal Health Affairs. (Carey, 12/3)

Americans increasingly have to dig into their own pockets to pay for medical care, a shift that is helping to curb the growth in health spending by employers and the government. The trend is being accelerated by the Affordable Care Act because many private plans sold by the law’s health exchanges come with hefty out-of-pocket costs, which prompt some people to delay or put off seeking care. (Armour, 12/3)

U.S. health care spending grew by the slowest rate in more than a half-century last year, government analysts said Wednesday. But a speed-up is coming as the economy gets traction and the new health care law covers more people. The nation's health care tab grew by just 3.6 percent in 2013, nonpartisan economic experts with the Health and Human Services department said in their report. That's the lowest annual increase going back to 1960, when the government began measuring. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/3)

Health spending in the U.S. grew in 2013 at the slowest rate ever recorded, a new government study indicates, marking the extension of a historic slowdown in medical spending that began after the last recession. Total spending on healthcare increased just 3.6 percent last year to $2.9 trillion, according to the study from independent analysts at the Department of Health and Human Services. That is down from 4.1% percent in 2012 and way down from 2002, when health spending increased by nearly 10%. (Levey, 12/3)

Health care spending in the U.S. grew last year at the lowest rate ever recorded, due in part to the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Wednesday. The slowing growth in health care spending to 3.6 percent from 4.1 percent in 2012 was attributed to factors including relatively slow economic growth and more gradual increases in private health insurance and Medicare spending, the CMS said. (Ungar and O'Donnell, 12/3)

America spent more than $2.9 trillion on health care in 2013, or about $9,255 per person, according to a government report released Wednesday. The 3.6 percent increase – from roughly $2.8 trillion in 2012 – was the smallest annual percentage hike since the data was first tracked in 1960, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. (Pugh, 12/3)

U.S. healthcare spending grew at the lowest rate ever recorded last year, in defiance of predictions that it would surge this year with Obamacare, experts said Wednesday. But it's still the highest per capita spending in the world, at $2.9 trillion for 2013, or $9,255 per person. (Fox, 12/3)

Health care spending increased 3.6 percent last year, the lowest rate of increase since the amount was first calculated in 1960, federal officials announced Wednesday. The cost of care reached $2.919 trillion last year, or a spending average of $9,255 per person. The final tally for 2013 was a slowdown from 2012, when spending grew 4.1 percent, and marked the fifth year in a row of low growth, said officials with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Landers, 12/3)

U.S. health care spending continued to grow slowly in 2013, largely because of Medicare and private insurance trends as well as a slowdown in hospital and physician spending. Officials with CMS’ Office of the Actuary said Wednesday that national health spending increased by 3.6 percent last year, following 4.1 percent growth in 2012. Total spending last year was $2.9 trillion, or $9,255 per person. (Pradhan, 12/3)

Health care spending grew at its lowest rate on record last year amid a relatively sluggish economy that has prompted consumers to spend more cautiously. A new report published in the journal Health Affairs Wednesday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows health spending grew by just 3.6 percent in 2013 — the lowest year-to-year increase ever recorded. This is down from the already low average growth rate of 3.9 percent for the previous four years. (Ehley, 12/3)