Americans Spend Billions On Supplementary Health Practices

Americans are pouring in a total of $30.2 billion every year out of their pockets for supplementary health practices, according to a national health survey. This survey was the 2012 National Health Interview Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

EurekAlert reported that out of the $30.2 billion, $28.3 billion was spent for adult Americans and $1.9 billion was spent for American children on practices such as chiropractic, use of herbal supplements, meditation and yoga. The $30.2 billion is said to be 9.2 percent of all out-of-pocket health care spending and 1.1 percent of total health care spending.

Study: Americans spend billions on non-conventional health approaches https://t.co/ocuvHxZVOU via @usatoday

— Matt Thomas (@mfthomas) June 22, 2016

Americans Looking For Alternatives

"People are fed up with the type of care they get from primary physicians that is covered by insurance," said Daniel Fabricant, executive director and CEO of the National Products Association, as per USA Today. Fabricant was also the former director of Dietary Supplement Programs in the United States Food and Drug Administration.

"Across the board, people are looking for ways to stay healthy on their own," added Fabricant. According to the survey, Americans spent an average of $433 out of their pockets for a complementary practitioner, $368 for herbal supplements and $257 for self-care health approaches.

More Americans Can Afford Health Care

Meanwhile, Fortune reported that polling group Gallup said that they recorded the lowest percentage of Americans who say that they cannot afford health care or medicine since 2008. The percentage for the past year is 15.5 percent.

"The expansion of health insurance coverage to millions more Americans under the Affordable Care Act is likely a major factor in the decline of health care insecurity, demonstrating a concrete benefit of the law," Jeffrey M. Jones and Nader Nekvasil, authors of the Gallup report, were quoted as saying. They added that repealing this law can have adverse effects in the access and ability to pay of Americans to health care.

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