Out-of-Pocket Spending on Complementary Health Approaches in the U.S.

Total Health Care Spending, 2012
$2.82 trillion

Pie Chart with three parts:

1. Reimbursed*†—$2.46 trillion;
2. Complementary Health Approaches Out-of-Pocket—$30.2 billion;
3. Conventional Out-of-Pocket*—$328.8 billion.

The two parts that are not reimbursed are split into the following:

• Other Conventional Care*‡—$225.1 billion;
• Self-Care Purchases†—$2.7 billion;
• Prescription Drugs*—$54.1 billion;
• Physician Visits*—$49.6 billion;
• Practitioner Visits—$14.7 billion;
• Nonvitamin, Nonmineral Natural Products—$12.8 billion.

* National Health Expenditure Data for 2012. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Web site. Accessed at: www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-systems/Statistics-Trends-and-r… on March 31, 2016.

† Self-care purchases includes, for example, homeopathic medicines and self-help materials such as books or CDs related to complementary health topics.

‡ Other conventional care includes dental care, nursing homes, home health care, nondrug medical products, hospital care, and other professional services.

 

Citation: Nahin RL, Barnes PM, Stussman BJ. Expenditures on complementary health approaches: United States, 2012. (433KB PDF) National Health Statistics Reports. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2016.

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