U.S. health spending rose to $3.3 trillion in 2016, but thepace slowed compared to the previous two yearsas demand for drugs, hospital care and physicianservices weakened, according to a federal study released Wednesday.

The analysis from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers forMedicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) showed a shift from thedramatic escalation in health spending that accompanied thecoverage gains in 2014 and 2015 as millions of Americans foundinsurance under the Affordable Care Act.

The rate at which spending grew last year was lower across manymeasures — including figures for Medicare, Medicaid, privateinsurance, prescription drugs and hospitals — than in the previoustwo years.

Micah Hartman, a statistician in the Office of the Actuary atCMS and the lead author of the study, said he could not recall thelast time that happened.

The slow down was more than federal officials had predicted ina report earlier this year.

Health spending was up 4.3 percent in 2016. In 2014 and 2015,spending increased 5.1 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, asthe ACA provided subsidies to help people get private coverage andmost states expanded Medicaid.

In effect, national health spending has returned to the moderategrowth levels that followed the 2007-2009 recession.

Still, health spending continues to outpace overall spending ongoods and services, which increased 2.8 percent in 2016.

“Costs remain reasonably under control but are still [rising] ata rate that is too rapid to be affordable for society,” said PaulGinsburg, a health policy professor at the University of SouthernCalifornia.

Health care consumes nearly one-fifth of the U.S. economy,according to the new data.

Amid calls for the Trump administration to do something aboutrising drug prices, the report found national spending forprescriptions rose just 1.3 percent in 2016, compared to 12 percentin 2014 and 9 percent in 2015.

The report attributed the deceleration in spending to fallingprices and the introduction of fewer new drugs. It also noted adecline in spending for hepatitis C drugs. Their arrival in2013 sparked a national debate on prices when the first one —Sovaldi — was being sold for $1,000 a pill, or$84,000 for the 12-week course of treatment.

The $329 billion spent on prescription medications in 2016represents 10 percent of overall health spending. The report notedthat share was similar to 2009’s.

Hospital spending — which makes up the highest share of healthexpenditures — increased by 4.7 percent last year, a fullpercentage point lower than in 2015, the report said. Slower growthwas due to a leveling in the number of people gaining healthcoverage last year, according to the researchers.

Spending on Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance programfor low-income people, rose by 3.9 percent last year, compared to9.5 percent in 2015 and 11.5 percent in 2014. Republicans inCongress have tried unsuccessfully to cap federal Medicaid spendingto states to help control growth in the program, an effort opposedby Democrats and advocates for the poor. The report noted thatMedicaid’s costs per enrollee grew less than 1 percent in 2016.

“This is evidence that states are doing a pretty good job atcontrolling Medicaid spending,” Ginsburg said.

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit news servicecovering health issues. It is an editorially independent program ofthe Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with KaiserPermanente. This study will also appear in the January 2018issue of Health Affairs but waspublished online Wednesday.