MINNEAPOLIS, January 28, 2008— Although health spending grew slightly in 2006, the amount spent on physicians decreased, due to a small Medicare pay increase and its private-sector fallout, according to a new report by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Overall national health spending reached $2.1 trillion, up 6.7 percent from $1.97 trillion in 2005, states the CMS report, published in the January/February issue of Health Affairs. The 2005 growth rate was 6.5 percent.

For the first time since 1999, spending on physicians grew more slowly than the gross domestic product.

The 2006 launch of Medicare Part D, which gave many seniors and people with disabilities access to affordable drugs for the first time, is largely responsible for slower growth in drug costs. Medicare was the source of just 2 percent of funds for drug benefits in 2005. In 2006, its share rose to 18 percent, according to the CMS report.

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