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. This respite comes just before a massive expansion of health insurance starts Jan. 1, 2014. Another 21 million people will get insurance, adding about $100 billion a year to total health care spending in 2014, according to the government's actuary.
