Health Care costs increases have slowed to 8.5 percent, their lowest level of growth in three years. A new study from the Center for Studying Health System Change found that overall spending is down because higher co-payments and deductibles often result in people choosing not to seek care. Mercer Human Resource Consulting has also reported that the average cost of providing health benefits for employees was less than originally expected this year and that the drop came from passing more costs on to employees.
See "Health Care Spending Growth Slows", Associated Press, The New York Times, December 11, 2003