10 Reasons Naturopathic Medicine Lowers Health Care Costs

By
Kelly Parcell, ND

10 Reasons Naturopathic Medicine Lowers Health Care Costs

1. Offers more treatment options.
Naturopathic doctors provide consumers with a broader range of safe, cost effective care.

2. Offers less expensive treatment
Naturopathic treatments are inherently less expensive than those conventional and many naturopathic treatments incur no cost whatsoever.

3. Reduces need for expensive surgical procedures
Naturopathic doctors often suggest non-surgical options to patients, while referring for surgery when it is indicated.

4. Decreases prescription drug costs
Naturopathic doctors typically prescribe much less expensive botanical or nutritional supplements to effectively care for medical problems.

5. Decreases prescription drug costs
About two percent of drug prescriptions result in hospital admission. Adverse drug reactions may add as much as $5 billion annually to health care costs and are considered the 5th leading cause of death in the U.S. 100,000 people died in 2003 of adverse reactions from correctly prescribed pharmaceuticals.

6. Reduces the incidence of iatrogenic (doctor-induced) illnesses
As many as one-third of patients admitted to hospitals contract another illness while there, resulting in longer stays. Fatal pharmaceutical adverse reactions combined with iatrogenic fatalities are the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S.

7. Lowers malpractice rates, resulting in reduced patient costs
Malpractice insurance rates are much lower for naturopathic doctors than they are for conventional doctors. Patients of naturopathic doctors do not have to absorb high malpractice costs.

8. Addresses the cause of illness thus eliminating expensive ongoing care
By addressing and treating the cause of disease, the need for repeated, expensive and often ineffective symptomatic treatment is eliminated. Naturopathic doctors use state-of-the-art diagnostic testing, thorough history and complete physical examination to diagnose underlying causes of disease.

9. Offers true disease prevention
Naturopathic doctors emphasize health-building practices, reducing the high future cost of preventable degenerative diseases.

10. Reduces insurance costs
Naturopathic medical billing is far lower per patient than conventional medical billing.