Further Investment in Alternative Medicine Needed, Opinion Piece Says

While the presidential candidates will "certainly trot out the two timeworn choices" -- cutting benefits or raising taxes -- to deal with the "ever-rising cost of health care," alternative medicine "promises an innovative, inclusive and fiscally responsible solution," Mary Ruggie, a professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, writes in a Christian Science Monitor opinion piece. Researchers nationwide "are beginning to demonstrate that certain alternative therapies are both safe and effective," Ruggie contends. She says that some patients are combining alternative and traditional therapies, and others use alternative therapies to "avoid the need for conventional treatment altogether." The cost savings from using alternative therapies "are potentially enormous," Ruggie maintains, adding that it is "simple common sense that whenever people can prevent illness or promote healing, they will use fewer health care resources." Ruggie writes, "The next step is more research to prove the anecdotal evidence" by conducting studies that "compare the effectiveness and costs of alternative therapies with standard treatments using conventional medicine" (Ruggie, Christian Science Monitor, 6/30).