National health care spending shot up 6.9 percent to $1.3 trillion in 2000
"National health care spending shot up 6.9 percent to $1.3 trillion in 2000, the government said today" Growth in health spending outpace the 6.5 percent growth of the economy as a whole in 2000 (before adjusting for inflation), the figures show" Total national spending on prescription drugs doubled in the five years from 1990 to 2000, according to the government data."
Source: Pear, Robert, "Propelled by Drug and Hospital Costs, Health Spending Surged in 2000," The New York Times, Tuesday, January 8, 2002, A14.