A new report shows the amount of money health plans dispensed to pay for medical and hospital benefits finally slowed after significant increases over the past decade. Total medical expenses grew just 1.7 percent in 2010, from $395 billion in 2009 to $401 billion in 2010, according to the report by Mark Farrah Associates. Medical expenses on a per person per month basis which escalated at nearly 8 percent per year from 2002-2008, increased 4.9 percent in 2009 and grew only 1.1 percent in 2010.

Using statutory filings health plans submit to state regulators and to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, MFA analyzed medical expenses for risk-based health insurance plans for  years 2002 to 2010. The study found health plans have succeeded in stabilizing medical expense trends and in lowering them in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, 86 percent of all fully insured health insurance premiums went toward medical expenses. As a percentage of premiums, that number is down 1.5 percent over 2009. Regulating medical loss ratios is one way Congress is attempting to lower the cost of health care through the PPACA.