Reductions in deaths from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease are likely to drive spending on mental disorders even higher, as more people survive to older ages when mental disorders become more prevalent.
An estimated $201 billion was spent in 2013 on mental disorders in the United States, more than any other medical condition, according to a study released by Health Affairs.
Behind mental disorders in order of spending from high to low are heart conditions, trauma, cancer, and pulmonary conditions, which round out the top five. Next are osteoarthritis, normal birth, diabetes, kidney disease, and hypertension.
The study estimated health spending by medical condition for the entire United States population. The estimates were developed under contract to the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
They include health spending by the military and institutionalized populations and are benchmarked to the National Health Expenditure Accounts.
Spanning the period 1996 to 2013, the study updates a 2009 Health Affairs study that used the same methodology and covered the period 1996 to 2005.
The 2016 study highlights the low rate of increase in spending on heart conditions and cerebrovascular disease during this period.
The slow spending growth is explained by reductions in smoking and better control of risk factors such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia, credited with declining death rates for these conditions.
Spending on Mental Disorders Expected to Rise
The author, Charles Roehrig, PhD, founding director of the Center for Sustainable Health Spending at Altarum Institute, in Ann Arbor, MI, noted that "reductions in deaths from heart conditions and cerebrovascular disease are likely to drive spending on mental disorders even higher, as more people survive to older ages—when mental disorders, such as dementia, become more prevalent."
This spending may only be the tip of the mental health iceberg, however. Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the United States—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year.
Only 41% of adults with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year, however. Among adults with a serious mental illness, just 62.9% received mental health services in the past year, reports the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"Because our system is so broken, only 40% of people who actively have mental health issues are getting treatment," John Santopietro, MD, FAPA, DFAPA, chief clinical officer of behavioral health at Carolinas HealthCare System recently told HealthLeaders magazine.