The worst economic instability since the Great Depression has led to a gradual increase in U.S. healthcare spending in 50 years but is still in better condition than other sectors.

There was an increase of 4 percent on spending on hospital services, doctor visits, medicines and other health needs in 2009. This is a little lower compared to the increase in 2008 which was at 4.7 percent. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the findings on Wednesday.

CMS said that the slow-paced increase may be connected to job losses and the use of fewer healthcare services. Anne Martin, the lead author of the study, said that unemployment rate is at its highest thus more and more people are losing their health insurance.

However, healthcare spending still outpaced some sectors. It has shown a growth to 17.6 percent of U.S. gross domestic product in 2009 from 16.6 percent in 2008. June 2009 marked the end of recession but healthcare sector still felt its effects.

On the other hand, private health insurance spending dropped to 1.3 percent. Government spending on healthcare rose because more people enrolled in Medicaid for the poor.