Explaining the factors behind health care spending's modest increases

USA Today analyzes this trend and details some of the reasons that could be driving it.

USA Today: Health Care Spending Is Transferred Out Of ICU
Health care spending last year rose at one of the lowest rates in a half-century, partly the result of cost-saving measures put in place by the 2009 health care law, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Spending for medical care has increased modestly for five consecutive years, the longest period of slow growth since Medicare began in 1966 (Cauchon, 3/4).

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USA Today: Gunshot Wounds Drive Up Government Health Care Costs
Gunshot wounds and deaths cost Americans at least $12 billion a year in court proceedings, insurance costs and hospitalizations paid for by government health programs, according to a recent study (Kennedy, 3/4).