The question asked is why people would chose Alternative Medicine. I am guessing this is specifically saying, "Why would people chose alternative medicine over western medicine." This is a subject I am very passionate about for many reasons, not the least of which being with the current cost of insurance I can not afford it. Though I must be honest here, cost is only a small part of my choosing alternative medicine over trusting the medical community here in the US. The principals behind alternative medicine frankly make more sense to me than the views of Medical Doctors currently. Shall we delve deeper into the debauchery that I currently see the medical community in the US and the reasons behind it and thus the reasons that I feel many are turning to the "alternative" choices left to them.

The first and easiest to understand would be the cost. This has many different sides, not just the cost of the care itself. For the purpose of this portion we will discuss insurance. In my opinion possibly one of the largest scams on the US to date. The standard thought process would follow as such: I make 30k a year, barely enough to cover my bills and pay out over $150 per month to an insurance company for well insurance. You would think you would be covered in the case of an emergency right? Wrong. You are only putting a tourniquet on the amount of blood flow they will get from your wallet in the case of an "approved" emergency.

By this I mean all you are paying for is that you have a cap out on how much they can get you for. If you pay $150 per month for a family of 3, basically you are saying that all you can pay out of pocket is $7,500-$10,500 per person per year. If you do anything lower than this cost you have to pay it out of pocket. Insurance companies are always finding ways to not pay out on your claims as well. You spend excessive amounts of time trying to get the care you want/need for your family, while their people's sole purpose is to decline you whenever possible.

Now that we have gotten past the cost of insurance, lets look at the cost of care itself and why it is that high. I think it is a combination of a few things. Attorneys and pharmaceutical companies to be exact. My personal short story about the cost for stitches is at: http://hubpages.com/hub/Cost-of-Medical-Care-Seriously. A short version of this is now due to so many lawsuits and mal practice suits Doctors are erring on the side of "safety" and have to perform things that are just frankly absurd and make it impossible for anyone who does not have an HMO to afford treatment.

They have to run so many tests and cover so many bases that it is not like it was when we were growing up (those of us 30+). I have personally had stitches 3 times and my younger brother has had them twice. It used to be go in get your stitches and leave. Now they want to do X-rays, MRI's, CAT Scans, shots etc. There is a point where the person needs to have a say, and the medical community has just gone too far.

Vaccines have really caused us to think long and hard about the medical community. It seems that "standard medicine" has had too long in the process of "prevention" or subduing symptoms without addressing what the body really needs or should have. I use vaccines as an example because they are the most un-studied, yet we are supposed to take it at face value that they should be given. Polio is the largest proponent of this, but many have not seen the studies showing the rapid decline had already started when the vaccine came out. So was it the vaccine or the cycle of the disease that caused the rapid decline?

Please look at the carts to the right for Measles, Polio, and Pertussis charts. The red line is when the vaccine was introduced, the blue line are the statistics of cases for the years. I did not make these up and please feel free to look them up yourself. Those making money are the ones with the funding and the ones pulling the strings on the accreditation process of the vaccines. Seems like a major conflict of interest to me which makes me question the entire process.

Another example is Gardasil. Look at this report on the studies of Gardasil, don't take my word for it: http://www.judicialwatch.org/documents/2008/JWReportFDAhpvVaccineRecords.pdf

If you have questions about Vaccines and having to enter school, please visit my hub on this subject as well. Many don't realize that Vaccines are a choice in this country (at least for now) we do have the right to religious preference which allows for these exemptions. For more please view: http://hubpages.com/hub/Your-child-your-choice-to-Vaccinate-or-not

The other major issue going on is that our society is using the internet to diagnose and then tell the doctors what they want. People go so far as to research what symptoms they need to have to get certain prescriptions. Not that doctors are looking hard to find reasons to prescribe medications, they get paid by the pharmaceutical company for what they give you. Which leads one to wonder if they are getting the prescription because they need it or because it has the highest pay out this month. (Yes, I have worked in chronic pain locations and seen this with my own two eyes.)

We are taking more and more prescriptions over 75% of Americans now take at least one prescription pill daily and many more than one. These pills are overriding our body's innate ability to heal itself. It is beyond disgusting what is happening with the ads we see on TV, the research is being done by people who are paid by the company they are supposed to be "unbiased" against, doctors are going on TV for commercials and then using body doubles to look healthier than they are, and we are just buying this hook line and sinker because it is easier.

No one likes to be sick, but it happens. It is SUPPOSED to happen. We are supposed to get colds and build immunities, we are supposed to get a fever when we have a bacteria or virus in our bodies, we are supposed to cough to expel phlegm. Yet the western medicine route is to give us suppressants, fever reducers, etc. We are circumventing our body's way of dealing with things and delaying many things that are very harmful.

So over all why to people chose Alternative Medicine over Western Medicine? Most of the time it starts out of necessity due to not being able to afford the "Western" medical care, and then we realize that we are really OK without it. (Now if there is an emergency then Western Medicine is the best chance to save us I agree with that!) But over all in day to day, many of us decide we would rather feel good naturally than through the medications and seek out cost effective natural ways to do so.