US health spending accelerated in 1998

In 1998 total spending for health care in the United States reached $1.1 trillion (£688bn), an increase of 5.6%from 1997. The total represented $4094 per person, compared with $3912 in 1997.

These figures were given in a report published this month in Health Affairs, a public policy journal. Health care consumed 13.7%of gross domestic product in 1993, but by 1997 that share fell to 13.4%rising to 13.5%in 1998, the report said.

Growth in public spending …