Medicare spending on the elderly in the U.S. has increased almost three times faster than that of a comparable program in Canada, a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found. City University of New York researchers found that U.S. Medicare spending for every elderly enrollee rose from $1,215 in 1980 to $9,446 in 2009, compared with Canada's increase from $2,141 to $9,292. Canada's per-senior spending is higher but covers a greater share of seniors' health costs. The study found the Canadian model would have saved the U.S. $2.15 trillion in health costs since 1980, but critics said the comparison was unrealistic and superficial.