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Health spending eased in ’10

Economic woes, cost controls cited as possible causes

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

 |  Associated Press  

  January 10, 2012

Health spending stabilized as a share of the nation’s economy in 2010 after two back-to-back years of historically low growth, the government reported Monday. Experts debated whether it’s a fleeting consequence of the sluggish economy, or a real sign that cost controls by private employers and government at all levels are starting to work. The answers will be vital for Medicare’s sustainability, as well as for workplace coverage. U.S. health care spending grew by 3.9 percent in 2010, reaching $2.6 trillion, according to the report by the Health and Human Services department.

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