Though there are continuing reports of a slowdown in health care costs — despite some disagreement on the actual causes — much more needs to be down in the coming year.

That's the consensus reached by researchers from the Commonwealth Fund.

Last year health care spending rose only moderately for the third straight time, increasing by 0.8 percent per person, slightly less than the rate of growth of gross domestic product per capita. This trend marks a departure from the previous five decades, and could be fueled in part by payment reforms contained within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, analysts said in a new report released this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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