title: National health spending in 2006: a year of change for prescription drugs.
abstract: In 2006, U.S. health care spending increased 6.7 percent to $2.1 trillion, or $7,026 per person. The health care portion of gross domestic product (GDP) was 16.0 percent, slightly higher than in 2005. Prescription drug spending growth accelerated in 2006 to 8.5 percent, partly as a result of Medicare Part D's impact. Most of the other major health care services and public payers experienced slower growth in 2006 than in prior years. The implementation of Medicare Part D caused a major shift in the distribution of payers for prescription drugs, as Medicare played a larger role in drug purchases than it had before.
authors.affiliation: National Health Statistics Group, CMS Office of the Actuary, USA. aaron.catlin@cms.hhs.gov
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Catlin
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.forename: Micah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hartman
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heffler
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D054524:Medicare Part D / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States