The Nation - News from July 30, 1986

Health care spending consumed $425 billion last year, equal to 10.7% of all goods and services produced by the U.S. economy, the annual report released by the Health and Human Services Department said. The 10.7% of gross national product devoted to health care was the highest on record and compared to 10.3% in 1984. But the rate of growth was the slowest in 20 years. Health expenditures in 1985 were up 8.9% from 1984’s $390.2 billion, the second year in a row that the rise was below the double-digit levels of the previous two decades.