Report: Expect government spending on health care to mushroom

WASHINGTON - In less than a decade, one out of every five dollars spent by Americans and their government will be for health care.

That's the projection in a new government report, which says total health-care spending in the year 2017 will average out to $13,101 per person.

By contrast, that spending in 2006 worked out to an average of $7,026 per person, for a total of 2.1 trillion dollars spent on health care. The expenditure is expected to double to more than 4 trillion a year by 2017.

That represents an annual increase of 6.7 percent -- nearly three times the rate of inflation.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says the increase will be driven by higher prices and an increased demand for care.

As the population ages, the government will pick up a bigger share of the tab.

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On the Net:

Health Affairs: http://www.healthaffairs.org/

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: http://www.cms.gov