U.S. health care spending surged in 2009, driven in part by asharp increase in Medicaid spending, the H1N1 virus and thegovernment's subsidization of COBRA premiums.

Health care expenditures outpaced GDP growth in 2009, accordingto new projections from the Centers for Medicare & MedicaidServices (CMS). Health care spending consumed a record 17.3percent of the U.S. economy. National health care expendituresreached $2.5 trillion, and grew 5.7 percent, up from 4.4 percent in2008.

CMS expects the health share of U.S. spending increased from16.2 percent of GDP in 2008 to 17.3 percent in 2009, which wouldrepresent the largest one-year increase in history.

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