WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The recession has slowed the growth in U.S. healthcare spending to its slowest pace in 48 years, data indicate.
A report released Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services indicated health spending for 2008 was around $2.3 trillion, up 4.4 percent from 2007. That represented a slowing down of the growth rate of 6 percent in 2007 over 2006, as well as the decade-long growth rate of 7 percent, The New York Times reported.
U.S. officials said the slowdown was the result of the struggling economy and did not affect the long-term outlook that spending on healthcare would continue to grow as baby boomers age and make greater use of expensive new medical technologies, the newspaper reported.
A report by the journal Health Affairs indicated U.S. healthcare spending averaged $7,681 per person in 2008, up 3.5 percent from 2007, the Times reported.
Meanwhile, spending by the federal government for health services and supplies jumped 10.4 percent in 2008 -- fully 36 percent of federal receipts, the highest share since 1987, the HHS report said.
