Spending on mental health and substance abuse (MHSA) treatment is projected to double between 2003 and 2014, according to new forecasts by the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, reported in an article published Oct. 7 on the Health Affairs web site. Nevertheless, growth in spending for MHSA treatment during this period is expected to lag behind growth in overall health spending.
Spending on MHSA treatment is expected to increase from $121 billion in 2003 to $239 billion in 2014, essentially duplicating the 6.4 percent growth rate in behavioral health spending that prevailed between 1986 and 2003. From 2003 to 2014, overall health spending is expected to grow 0.8 percentage points faster than the rate of growth in spending for MHSA treatment. As a result, behavioral health spending is predicted to decline as a share of total health spending, from 7.5 percent in 2003 to 6.9 percent in 2014.
The bulk of MSHA spending goes toward the treatment of those with mental illnesses. In 2014, spending on mental health treatment is expected to be $203 billion--85 percent of all behavioral health spending. And Medicaid is expected to remain the single largest payer for mental health treatment, accounting for 27 percent of that spending in 2014. Read the abstract.
