• Healthcare spending through the third quarter of 2014 grew at an annual rate of 5 percent, up from the 3.6 percent growth rate in 2013.
• This acceleration was driven mainly by higher spending on prescription drugs.
• There are indications of a jump in the third quarter, when spending on services increased by 5.4 percent as compared to the third quarter of 2013.
• If the third-quarter jump in services spending is repeated in the fourth quarter, national health expenditures for the second half of 2014 will have grown at about 6 percent annual rate, compared to about 4.7 percent growth during the first half.
• Prices of healthcare goods and services grew 1.5 percent in 2014, compared to 1.3 percent in 2013.
• However, prices for healthcare services alone showed the opposite pattern, with growth falling from 1.5 percent in 2013 to 1.3 percent in 2014.
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