WASHINGTON - According to a report by Robert F. Bennett, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Senate, health care spending has become a serious concern in this country. After slowing somewhat in the mid-1990s, the growth of health spending has once again begun to outstrip economic growth.
In 2003, for example, national health spending grew twice as fast (6.2 percent adjusted for inflation) as the overall economy (3.1 percent). Some of this increased spending is due to advances in health care and modern treatment. However, rising costs are pricing some Americans out of the health care market and impose increasing burdens on taxpayers, wage earners, and employers, noted Bennett.