+Numbers | July 28, 2011

.1%

Projected rise in percentage points of federal health care spending over the next ten years as a result of the Affordable Care Act, which will bring health insurance to 30 million currently uninsured Americans. The analysis was conducted by the Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and published in the peer-reviewed journal, Health Affairs [via NPR]

+Numbers | February 17, 2011

20%

Percentage of imaging tests ordered by orthopedic surgeons out of fear of being sued, rather than out of necessity. Defensive imaging accounted for 11% of X-rays, 38% of MRIs, 33% of CT scans, 57% of bone scans and 53% of ultrasounds. Defensive medicine also accounted for 35% of costs, nearly all of it from MRIs. [...]

+Policy & Industry | July 31, 2009

American Spending on Yoga, Echinacea and Acupuncture

By TIME.com

According to data released this week tracking Americans’ out-of-pocket spending on health care, each year we fork out some $33.9 billion for “complementary and alternative medicine” — everything ranging from acupuncture and massage therapy to yoga and herbal supplements. The nearly $40 billion in spending represents just 1.5% of overall annual health care costs, which [...]