From USA TODAY:
The costs of the government’s big health care programs are soaring again, expenses not tackled in the agreement President Obama signed into law Tuesday to raise the nation’s debt limit and cut federal spending.
Medicare and Medicaid spending rose 10% in the second quarter from a year earlier to a combined annual rate of almost $992 billion, according to new data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The two programs are on track to rise $90 billion in 2011 and crack the $1 trillion milestone for the first time.
The jump in health care spending is the biggest since the Medicare prescription drug benefit was added five years ago and ends a brief lull in the spending increases that occurred during the economic downturn…
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