(AP) - The new Medicare drug benefit has fueled an overall jump in spending on health care in America.
The bill in 2006 was 6.7 percent higher than the year before as Medicare recipients used their new drug benefit cards.
Spending on prescription drugs went up 8.5 percent as the benefit kicked in.
Still, there was a slowdown in spending in most other areas of health care. Consumers relied more on generic drugs and prices for many brand-names held relatively stable.
The cost of going to the doctor or to the hospital went up, but not as much as the year before.
In all, U.S. consumers spent 2.1 trillion dollars on health care in 2006. That figure represents just over 16 percent of the whole economy and works out to about $7,000 a person.
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