Healthcare spending surge seen in next decade

U.S. healthcare spending will almost double to about $4.3 trillion by 2017, according to economists with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS forecasts that healthcare spending will account for 19.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product by 2017, up from 16.3 percent in 2007. A key factor in the increase will be the entry in 2011 of the leading edge of the baby boom generation into Medicare, officials said.