In USA

In respect of taxation in the USA, the Internal Revenue Service has discriminated in favour of medical expenses for acupuncture and chiropractic and others including Christian Science practitioners but against homeopathy and the use of non-prescription required medicine.^{[n 16]}

The use of alternative medicine in the US has increased,^[1][79] with a 50 percent increase in expenditures and a 25 percent increase in the use of alternative therapies between 1990 and 1997 in America.^[79] Americans spend many billions on the therapies annually.^[79] Most Americans used CAM to treat and/or prevent musculoskeletal conditions or other conditions associated with chronic or recurring pain.^[150] In America, women were more likely than men to use CAM, with the biggest difference in use of mind-body therapies including prayer specifically for health reasons".^[150] In 2008, more than 37% of American hospitals offered alternative therapies, up from 26.5 percent in 2005, and 25% in 2004.^[156][157] More than 70% of the hospitals offering CAM were in urban areas.^[157]

A survey of Americans found that 88 percent agreed that "there are some good ways of treating sickness that medical science does not recognize".^[1] Use of magnets was the most common tool in energy medicine in America, and among users of it, 58 percent described it as at least “sort of scientific”, when it is not at all scientific.^[1] In 2002, at least 60 percent of US medical schools have at least some class time spent teaching alternative therapies.^[1] "Therapeutic touch," was taught at more than 100 colleges and universities in 75 countries before the practice was debunked by a nine-year-old child for a school science project.^[1][158]

A 1997 survey found that 13.7% of respondents in the US had sought the services of both a medical doctor and an alternative medicine practitioner. The same survey found that 96% of respondents who sought the services of an alternative medicine practitioner also sought the services of a medical doctor in the past 12 months. Medical doctors are often unaware of their patient's use of alternative medical treatments as only 38.5% of the patients alternative therapies were discussed with their medical doctor.^[79]

According to Michael H. Cohen, US regulation of alternative includes state licensure of healthcare providers and scope of practice limits on practice by non-MD healthcare professionals; state-law malpractice rules standard of care limits on professional negligence; discipline of practitioners by state regulatory boards; and federal regulation such as food and drug law.^[159] He argues that US regulation of alternative medicine "seeks to integrate biomedical, holistic, and social models of health care in ways that maximize patients’ well-being [w]hile still protecting patients from fraud."^[160]