WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health care spending last year grew at the fastest pace since President Barack Obama took office, driven by expanded coverage under his namesake law and by zooming prescription drug costs, the government said Wednesday.
After five years of historically low growth, national health expenditures increased by 5.3 percent in 2014, reaching $3 trillion, or $9,523 for every man, woman and child. That followed a 2.9 percent increase for 2013. Such seemingly small percentage shifts resonate when the total is $3 trillion.
LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers voted by a wide margin Wednesday to join the international campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, after Prime Minister David Cameron asserted that bombing the "medieval monsters" in their heartland would make Britain safer.
The 397-223 vote in the House of Commons means Royal Air Force fighter jets — already operating against IS in Iraq from a base in Cyprus — could be flying over Syria within hours. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told Channel 4 news that the strikes would begin "very quickly … probably not tonight but it could be tomorrow night."
