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All Americans must understand and send this message: Mental disability
is not a scandal; it is an illness. And like physical illness, it
is treatable, especially when the treatment comes early. President George W. Bush, April 29, 2002
Mental Health Disorders Are Common; Treatment Is Not
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One in five Americans has a mental
disorder each year, but only fifteen percent of the adult population
uses some form of mental health service
during the year.1
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Four
million American youth have a major mental illness that results
in significant impairment at home,
at school and/or with peers.2 Yet,
only a third of the children who need mental health treatment receive
any at all.
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A Harvard Medical School study
found that 13 to 14 million adult Americans suffer from a major
depressive episode each year,
but only one in five received treatment that met the minimum standards
of treatment.3
America Pays for Mental Illness No Matter What
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The combined indirect
and direct costs of mental illness, including costs of lost
productivity, lost earnings due to illness, and social
costs are estimated to total at least $113 billion annually.
4
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Clinical depression alone costs the U.S. $43.7 billion annually,
including workplace costs for absenteeism
and lost productivity ($23.8
billion), direct costs for treatment and rehabilitation ($12.4 billion),
and lost earning due to depression-induced suicides ($7.5 billion).
5
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Healthcare costs of untreated
persons who suffer from alcoholic and drug addiction are 100 percent
higher than those who receive treatment.
At least 25 percent of all hospital admissions have alcoholism-related
complications, and 65 percent of emergency room visits are alcohol
or other drug related. 6
Cutting Mental Health Funding Will Cost States More
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Oklahoma's Mental Health
Commissioner told State lawmakers that recent budget cutbacks
to community-based mental health programs seem to
be sending clients into more expensive crisis centers. Patients
at the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health increased 49 percent between
October 2002 and March of 2003. 7
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In South Carolina, persons with
mental illness have waited for days in emergency rooms or months
in county jails for an open
bed in a psychiatric hospital. The shortage of beds has been blamed
on $23 million in cuts to the department's State appropriations
between FY 2001 and 2002. 8
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Dane County, Wisconsin - renowned
for premier mental health services - has waiting lists of up to
a year for many adult and juvenile
mental health services as a result of funding cuts from state and
federal sources. 9
America Can Spend Money Wisely
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Invest
in effective community-based care that reduces
reliance on emergency rooms, jails, prisons and other highly
expensive
care. An
emergency room typically charges four to five times that
of a doctor’s
office.
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Consider
the full cost of cutting funding for health services. For
example, states stand to lose $1.2 million in wages and $3.4 million
in business activity for every $1 million cut from state Medicaid
programs. 10
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Include consumers and
family members in all decision-making. People living
with mental health disorders know the real impact of
policy choices.
To find your local Mental Health Association, visit our website at
www.nmha.org or call 800-969-NMHA (6642), Option 6.
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