[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16615-16616]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          COST OF HEALTH CARE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, a brief word. I was struck this morning by 
looking at the newspapers and listening to the news that:

       Spending on health care in the United States grew in 2013 
     at the lowest rate since the Federal Government began 
     tracking it in 1960. . . .
       It was the fifth straight year of exceptionally small 
     increases in the closely watched indicator. The data defied 
     critics who had said such growth would not continue for long 
     once the recession ended in mid-2009.

  Health care spending was up last year but only 3.6 percent. It is 
very remarkable.

[[Page 16616]]

  As I indicated:

       The 3.6 percent increase in 2013 is the lowest increase on 
     record in the national health expenditures going back to 
     1960.

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