Health spending growth slowest in decades

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. healthcare spending in 2009 rose 4 percent to $2.5 trillion -- a smaller rate of increase than the 4.7 percent growth rate in 2008, federal analysts say.

Analysts at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the Department of Health and Human Services say the deep recession, followed by slow economic growth, resulted in national healthcare spending increasing at its lowest rate in five decades.

"We had an unemployment rate that was higher than any other recent period that contributed to a large number of people losing their health insurance, and having much less income to devote to healthcare," Anne Martin, a CMS economist says in a statement.

In 2009, the number of people enrolled in private health insurance plans dropped 3.2 percent and consequently, private health insurance spending dropped from 33 percent of total health expenditures in 2008 to 32 percent in 2009.

Total private health insurance premium growth declined from 3.5 percent in 2008 to 1.3 percent in 2009, climbing at the slowest rate in the history of the national health accounts, the analysts say.

Healthcare spending in 2009 amounted to about $8,086 per person.

The findings are published in the journal Health Affairs.