“NHE [National Health Expenditures] increased by 3.9 percent in 2017 to $3.5 trillion or $10,739 per capita. This growth rate is lower than what was observed in 2016 (4.8 percent) and 2015 (5.8 percent). After a period of relatively fast growth in 2014 and 2015 during the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 2017 was characterized by slower growth that continued from 2016. In fact, growth in 2017 was similar to the 3.7 percent average annual rate of the 5-year period ending in 2013. These growth rates are the lowest since the early 1960s when health spending was first tracked in its current format. The slower growth in 2017 was influenced by both the use and intensity of goods and services (hospital care, physician services, and retail prescription drugs) and was evident in each major source of insurance. Health spending remained at 17.9 percent of GDP in 2017 (only slightly below its 18.0 percent of GDP in 2016) because it increased 0.3 percentage points slower than GDP.”

Source: Apoorva Rama, National Health Expenditures, 2017: The slowdown in spending growth continues, AMA Policy Research Perspectives, American Medical Association, 2019. https://www.ama-assn.org/about/research/trends-health-care-spending