Over the 13 3-year average periods, 1996 to 1998 to 2009 to 2011, for which the MEPS data is analyzed, prescription medications and ambulatory nonphysician care visits increased more than other categories of health care percentage-wise. The former showed an average annual increase of more than 8%, while the latter showed an increase of 6.6%. Of note, however, the increases for all services were much slower in the most recent three-year period, at 1.4% across the board. (Reference Table 10.3 PDF CSV)