US health tab hit $4T as gov’t opened spigot to fight COVID

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government report says U.S. health care spending rocketed to $4.1 trillion last year as Congress opened the spigot of federal dollars to battle the coronavirus pandemic across multiple fronts. National health spending jumped by 9.7% in 2020, more than double the usual growth rate, with health care accounting for nearly $1 of every $5 in the economy. In a twist, the growth was driven not so much by care devoted to patients, but by federal subsidies to keep hospitals solvent; funding to develop COVID tests, vaccines, treatments and countermeasures; and assistance to state Medicaid programs facing a potential wave of uninsured people.