Silver Book Fact
Total Medicare spending reached $469.2 billion in 2008.
Hartman, Micah, Anne Martin, Olivia Nuccio, Aaron Catlin, and the National Health Care Expenditure Accounts Team. Health Spending Growth at a Historic Low in 2008. Health Affairs. January 2010; 29(1): 147-55. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/29/1/147