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U.S. healthcare spending experienced historically low rates of growth in 2009 and 2010, according to the annual report of National Health Expenditures (NHE) published in Health Affairs.

U.S. healthcare spending accelerated slightly in 2010, increasing 3.9 percent, just one percentage point faster than in 2009. Total health expenditures reached $2.6 trillion, $8,402 per person or 17.9 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the same share as in 2009.

Analysts at CMS report in the article that the increase in spending for 2009 represents the lowest rate of increase in the entire 51-year history of the NHE, and cite the poor economy as a factor, contributing to lower utilization in healthcare than in previous years.

Key findings from the report include the following:

• Hospital care: Hospital spending, which accounted for an estimated 30 percent of total healthcare spending, grew just 4.9 percent to $814.0 billion in 2010, compared to growth of 6.4 percent in 2009. Growth in private health insurance spending for hospital services, which in 2010 accounted for 35 percent of all hospital care, also slowed in 2010. These trends occurred at the same time median inpatient hospital admissions declined and emergency department and outpatient hospital visits grew more slowly than in 2009.
• Physician and clinical services: Spending on physicians and clinical services, which accounted for 20 percent of total healthcare spending, grew 2.5 percent to reach $515.5 billion in 2010, slowing from 3.3 percent growth in 2009.
• Other professional services: Spending on providers of services such as physical therapy, chiropractic medicine, and mental health also decelerated slightly, increasing 3.6 percent to $68.4 billion after growth of 3.8 percent in 2009.
• Dental services: Spending for dental services increased 2.3 percent in 2010 to $104.8 billion compared to growth of only 0.1 percent in 2009. Out-of-pocket spending for dental services (which accounts for over 40 percent of dental spending) increased 0.5 percent in 2010 following a decline of 5.2 percent in 2009.
• Household healthcare spending: Spending on household healthcare, which represented 28 percent of total health spending, amounted to $725.5 billion in 2010, one percent lower than in 2007. Growth in total private health insurance premiums continued to slow in 2010 from 2.6 percent in 2009 to 2.4 percent in 2010, a trend that began in 2003. Despite this deceleration, for the first time in seven years, the growth in premiums exceeded the growth in insurer spending on healthcare benefits, with the net cost of insurance increasing by 8.4 percent or $11.3 billion in 2010. Out-of-pocket spending by consumers increased 1.8 percent in 2010, accelerating from 0.2-percent growth in 2009.
• Prescription drugs: Spending on prescription drugs, accounting for 10 percent of total healthcare spending, grew only 1.2 percent to $259.1 billion in 2010, a substantial slowdown from 5.1-percent growth in 2009 and the slowest rate of growth for prescription drug spending recorded in the NHE.
• Medicaid: Spending on Medicaid increased 7.2 percent in 2010, slowing from 8.9 percent growth in 2009.

Source: CMS, January 9, 2012