The U.S. government reports that health care spending reached 2.3 trillion in 2008. As a result, health care costs account for 16.2% of the gross domestic product, up from 15.9% in 2007.

According to federal officials, the recession, however, slowed the rate of growth on health care spending to 4.4%, down from 6% in 2007. The 2008 increase was the slowest growth rate in health spending since 1960, the year the government started tracking costs. Government researchers also note that national health spending averaged $7,681 a person in 2008, up 3.5% from the previous year.

Health economists explain, in part, that a severe recession not only meant that Americans scaled back on medical expenditures, but also private-sector employers and health care providers reduced spending.

“Spending for health care by private businesses grew just 1.2% in 2008, in part because of a drop in the proportion of employer-sponsored insurance paid by employers. Private business’s health spending remained relatively flat as a share of compensation at 7.9%,” Micah Hartman, a government researcher, told “The New York Times.” Hartman led the research team that produced a report analyzing the nation's 2008 health care costs.

In the report, commissioned by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, federal researchers found that health insurance premiums and benefits in the private sector increased to 3.1% and 3.9%, respectively. The numbers represent the slowest growth rate since 1967, government economists report. The fact that fewer workers were covered by employer-sponsored health insurance in 2008 (195.4 million), compared to 2007 (196.4 million) also contribute to the decrease. In addition, the research report notes that prescription drug prices jumped by 2.5% in 2008. The rate, however, was below the 4.1% average annual increase in drug prices from 1997 to 2007.

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