National Health Care 2008 Spending Growth Slows 1.6% From 2007; Share of GDP Increases to 16.2%

OPEN MINDS Weekly News Wire Strategic Health Care News In 2008, total health care spending in the United States reached $2.3 trillion—about $7,681 per person. The growth rate of health care spending slowed 1.6% from the 2007 rate of 6.0%, to a 4.4% increase for 2008. However, health care spending increased as a share of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 15.7% in 2007 to 16.2% in 2008. It is the largest one-year increase since the federal government began keeping track in 1960. Total health care spending by public . . .