The $2.8 trillion question: Are health costs growing fast again?

A four-year slowdown in health spending growth could be coming to an end. Americans' spending on health care spiked by 9.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014, new federal data shows. That data could be revised, or it could be a blip, but it adds to the evidence that health-care costs are back on the march — which is very, very bad news for the federal budget. Separate research found that Americans used more medical care in 2013 as the economy recovered, new reports show – and that health spending is now growing just as quickly as it was prior to the recession.