WASHINGTON — National health spending will average more than $10,000 a person this year for the first time, the Obama administration said Wednesday, a milestone that heralds somewhat faster growth in health spending after several years of exceptionally low growth. Another factor fueling the growth of health spending, he said, is the “use of high-cost specialty drugs and faster growth in drug prices.”The report estimates that national health spending increased 5.5 percent in 2015, to a total of $3.2 trillion. The growth of actual and projected health spending has slowed considerably since the early 1990s. By 2025, the administration reported, health care will represent 20 percent of the total economy, up from 17.8 percent last year. In 1993, when Bill and Hillary Clinton were leading a national campaign to remake the nation’s health care system, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that health spending would account for 20 percent of the economy by 2003.

Source: New York Times July 13, 2016 20:15 UTC