title: Health spending growth slows in 2003.
abstract: The pace of health spending growth slowed in 2003 for the first time in seven years, driven in part by a slowdown in public spending growth. U.S. health care spending rose 7.7 percent in 2003, much slower than the 9.3 percent growth in 2002. Financial constraints on the Medicaid program and the expiration of supplemental funding provisions for Medicare services drove the deceleration. U.S. health spending accounted for 15.3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product in 2003, an increase of 0.4 percentage points from 2002.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in Baltimore, Maryland. csmith7@cms.hhs.gov
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.forename: Art
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sensenig
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Catlin
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D005380:Financing, Government; D005382:Financing, Personal; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000145:classification / Q000639:trends*; D007348:Insurance, Health; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States