U.S. News: U.S. Watch
HEALTH</br></br>Recession Likely to Boost</br></br>Government Outlays on Care</br></br>Government spending on health care is expected to jump 7.4% to $1.191 trillion this year as the recession curbs private health-care spending and swells the rolls of Medicaid and other government programs, a federal study concludes.</br></br>Overall, the nation's health-care expenditures are expected to reach $2.510 trillion, a 5.5% increase from 2008, when expenditures grew at a 6.1% pace, according to the study by economists and actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services being published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs.