White, elderly, women with private health insurance are spending the most health care dollars, the federal government reported.

$2.6 trillion the nation spent on health care in 2010 translated into just over $8,400 per person.

But that is not the whole story.

A different study just released by a separate federal agency shows that second number doesn’t actually mean very much.

Specifically, in 2009, just 1 percent of the non-institutionalized population accounted for 21.8 percent of all U.S. health spending. And just 5 percent accounted for half the total spending.

Meanwhile, the bottom half of the population accounted for a mere 2.9 percent of total health spending in 2009.

Health care reform measures which President Barack Obama signed into law last year will help provide coverage for about 2.5 million people aged 19 to 25.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that the provision that lets young adults remain on their parents’ insurance plans through age 26,

Federal officials credited the gains to the Affordable Care Act, legislation championed by President Barack Obama that took effect last year and is deemed the biggest overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system in nearly 50 years.

The law aims broadly to eventually provide medical coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans, and already allows young adults to stay on their parents’ private insurance plans through age 26.

Since the policy helping young adults took effect in September 2010, the percentage of adults ages 19 to 25 covered by a private health insurance plan has increased significantly, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said.

Ill Americans are not getting the care they need.

In a country with the most sophisticated health care system many often forgo care in lieu of taking care of other expenses.

“Despite spending far more on health care than any other country, the United States practically stands alone when it comes to people with illness or chronic conditions having difficulty affording health care and paying medical bills,” Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis said in a statement.

“This is a clear indication of the urgent need for Affordable Care Act reforms geared toward improving coverage and controlling health care costs.”

Health insurance premiums increase leaving consumers and employers to decide how to pay for services.

Including employers’ contributions, the overall premium has increased 113 percent since 2001 to $15,073 a year.

More workers, especially in smaller firms, continue to join high-deductible health plans. Thirty-one percent of covered employees this year have to pay at least $1,000 in single plans before coverage kicks in, up from 27 percent last year.

The survey also highlighted some early results of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform.

Under one of the few provisions already in effect, people under the age of 26 are now allowed to remain covered by their parents’ insurance plans to curb historically high uninsured rates in that age group. The Kaiser survey estimated that U.S. companies have added 2.3 million young adults to their parents’ family health policies.

Although the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend routine neonatal circumcision the debate wages on with little definitive information from either side.

Parents can feel coerced into making a quick decision with little information.

With changes in health care policy it may become a matter of cost for a medically unnecessary procedure which can cost $400; quite a lot of money for many families.

More and more parents are starting to think seriously about whether to circumcise their newborn boys. And many of them are finding that it’s a question without easy answers, not least because guidance from many leading medical organizations has been equivocal. Although rates have declined in recent years, well over half of all boys born in American hospitals undergo the procedure.