33.9 Billion on CAM

Let’s play Jeopardy!

Answer: 33.9 billion on CAM.

{cue the Jeopardy! music}

Question: How much did Americans spend on complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) in 12 months?

On top of the trillions of dollars (with a “tr”) spent annually on health care in the United States, Americans are spending almost 34 billion – with a “b” – on alternative treatments.

According to the NIH/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, about 38% of Americans use some sort of CAM to either stay healthy or help manage or treat illness or symptoms of illness. CAM covers a wide variety of practices, too numerous to mention. But the most commonly known are:

• acupuncture
• chiropractics
• homeopathy
• supplements

The Center broke down the costs even further:

• $22 billion was spent on products, classes and materials, bought out of pocket by the consumers.
• $14.8 billion of that $22 billion wsa spent on natural products, such as fish oil, glucosamine and echinacea
• $11.9 billion was spent on visiting CAM practitioners

According to the Center,

To put these figures in context, the $14.8 billion spent on nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural products is equivalent to approximately one-third of total out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs, and the $11.9 billion spent on CAM practitioner visits is equivalent to approximately one-quarter of total out-of-pocket spending on physician visits.

Information like this is essential. Knowing how much money, how popular and how useful various products are allows researchers to focus on ensuring Americans have access to safe products.

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Images: Zuma.com, istock.com