By: Dan Mangan

Spending on health care for people who have private insurance accelerated last year, ending a two-year period of more modest spending growth, a new study finds.

In 2015, overall spending for people with private health insurance increased by 4.6 percent, according to the Health Care Cost Institute report. Most of that increase, again, was due to higher prices for prescription drugs and medical services, as opposed to increased use of either.

In contrast, overall health-care spending grew by just 2.6 percent in 2014. In 2013, health spending rose 3 percent, HCCI said.

"Year after year, we see one constant: Rising prices that are accelerating spending growth," said HCCI Executive Director David Newman.