Health care spending in the United States topped $2.3 trillion or an average of $7,681 per person in 2008, according to a new federal study published on Tuesday. The figure was far higher than in any other industrialized country in the world. While the increase was held in check due to the recession, health spending still accounted for more than 16 percent of the nation's economy. “This is unsustainable for business, for workers, for government and for our entire economy,” Senator Bernie Sanders has said. “Clearly, we need health care reform that brings costs under control.”

The new analysis by economists at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid found that total national health spending grew 4.4 percent in 2008. That was the slowest rate of increase since the tracking began n 1960, but health costs grew much more than the overall growth in gross domestic product, which stood at 2.6 percent in 2008.

Because of the recession, a greater share of health spending was shifted to the federal government, which sent billions of dollars to states to help them with their share of Medicaid costs.