The study focuses on the amount of out-of-pocket money spent by consumers on the non-medical forms of care they refer to as “CAM” for the year 2007. The study reports that in 2007 Americans spent $33.9 billion of their own money out of pocket on visits to CAM practitioners and purchases of CAM products. The largest portion of that amount, $22 billion, was spent on CAM products classes and materials. Another $11.9 billion was spent on practitioner visits which include all chiropractic care.
The study points out that in 2007, 38.1 million adults made an estimated 354.2 million visits to CAM practitioners. Of this number almost half were chiropractors accounting for about $3.9 billion out of pocket expenses. As a comparison the study noted that Americans spent $49.6 billion out of pocket for medical doctor visits.
The study results also noted that chiropractic was one of the most affordable types of CAM care as they stated, “Some of the highest per-person, out-of pocket costs are associated with visits to practitioners of naturopathy and chelation therapy, while one of the lowest per-person, out-of-pocket costs is associated with visits to practitioners of chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation therapy.”
In the total scheme of healthcare CAM is not a large portion of the expenses but is a large part of the number of people receiving care. The study notes that all of the CAM expenditures combined only amounts to 1.5% of the total health-care expenditures in the United States. However, as many people are willing to pay for these services CAM does total 11.2% of all out-of-pocket health-care expenditures in the US.

Oakland University economics professor Dr. Miron Stano, an expert in the field of healthcare economics, has thoroughly reviewed the scientific literature regarding chiropractic and cost-effectiveness. He has found that there is no basis in terms of cost of care considerations to justify a continuation of Michigan’s existing chiropractic scope. Dr. Stano’s research involving insurance claims databases found that chiropractic patients often have substantially lower health care costs.

 A study published by the Archives of Internal Medicine analyzed claims data comparing more than 700,000 health plan members with chiropractic coverage with 1 million members without a chiropractic benefit, and found that if all members of the plan had chiropractic coverage, total health care costs would drop by 12 percent, a result of less utilization of hospital beds, drugs, x-rays and most importantly, speedier patient recovery times.

Another study examined the health care expenditures of Alternative Medicine, Inc (AMI), an independent provider association in which doctors of chiropractic act as portal of entry primary care physicians, performing all patient examinations, treatments, and procedures at their own discretion.  Recommended follow-up visits, choice appropriate treatment, and ancillary therapies utilized did not require approval from a medical director.  A comparative analysis of clinical and cost outcomes found decreases of: 43 percent in hospital admissions per 1,000; 58.4 percent in hospital days per 1,000; 43.2 percent in outpatient surgeries and procedures per 1,000; and 51.8 percent in pharmaceutical costs.  The study’s author’s noted that” “The AMI experience seems to indicate that a nonpharmaceutical/nonsurgical orientation can reduce overall health care costs significantly and yet deliver high quality care.”