For the First Time, Health Care Spending Higher than Social Security desiree smith period 4

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-01-25/health-care-programs-contribute-to-increasing-federal-deficit
The federal government spent more on health care in 2015 than on Social Security for the first time ever. The federal government spent $882 billion on Social Security, compared with $936 billion in spending on health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and tax subsidies that help people pay for private health plans under Obamacare.

The total represents a 13 percent jump in health care spending from fiscal 2014, according to the report. Authors of the report warn that the federal budget deficit will increase in relation to the size of the economy for the first time since effects of the Great Recession began in 2009, projecting that the 2016 budget deficit will reach $544 billion, or $105 billion more than the previous year. Health care programs are projected to total 5.5 percent of GDP in 2016 and to grow quickly in subsequent years, reaching 6.6 percent of GDP in 2026.