The Emerging Socioeconomic and Political Support for Alternative Medicine in the United States

Abstract

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasingly utilized and accepted by patients and providers throughout the American health care system. Most accounts attribute this growing acceptability to the shortcomings of conventional medicine, the appeal of CAM's core beliefs, and the growing body of research indicating that CAM actually works. These explanations, while all accurate to some degree, neglect the extent to which CAM's recent success is due to economic and political factors. This article describes the emerging relationship between CAM and major economic actors (pharmaceutical firms, managed care companies, insurance companies, media conglomerates, Internet providers, etc.) as well as CAM's relationship with a range of political forces (political parties, bureaucrats, lobbying groups, ethnic- and gender-based movements and organizations, etc.). The convergence of interests between these economic and political forces and many of CAM's goals is one important reason for CAM's recent success.