BUSINESS AND MENTAL HEALTH

UNTREATED MENTAL ILLNESS COSTS CALIFORNIA BILLIONS

Background
Mental illness is an often severe and disabling medical condition that can nearly always be effectively treated. An estimated 20 percent of the population has some sort of serious mental illness during their lifetime – that’s one in 5 Californians. Individuals with mental illness are also both the largest and fastest growing group of people with disabilities receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) disability payments. According to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, an estimated $25 billion is spent annually for these disability payments. There are many forms of mental illness, which like almost any illness, vary in severity. Some of the most common forms of mental illness include schizophrenia, manic depressive/bi-polar disorder, major depression, anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

• Major depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide among people age five and older. In fact, disability caused by major depression was found by the World Health Organization to be equivalent to blindness or paraplegia.
• Depression costs the nation about $44 billion each year in lost productivity. Direct costs, such as doctor visits, therapy and medication are estimated at $12.4 billion. Indirect costs such as absenteeism and reduced productivity are pegged at $31.3 billion.
• Untreated mental illness is costly. A RAND Corporation study found that people with depressive symptoms spend more days in bed than those with diabetes, arthritis, back problems, lung problems or gastrointestinal disorders. Untreated mental illness also costs California businesses nearly $7.9 billion annually in worker absenteeism and reduced productivity.
• Depression tends to affect people in their prime working years and, if left untreated, can last a lifetime. At any one time, one of every 20 employees experiences depression, and an estimated 200 million workdays are lost each year to the effects of depression.
• Providing mental health care treatment is the most effective way to help individuals with mental illness move their lives forward and become productive and is also a sound fiscal move for the state, cities, businesses and law enforcement.

Next Steps
Sustained funding for mental health treatment in California is critical because of the direct impact mental illness has on all aspects of society – education, homelessness, law enforcement and overall health costs. Reductions in available resources for comprehensive mental health treatment will ultimately result in additional costs transferred to another segment of our community. Funding of mental health services should remain a priority for California because it is clear the investment saves both money and lives.

For questions or additional information call Kami Lloyd at 916-658-0144

3/28/03

1127 – 11 th Street, Suite 925, Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone: 916-557-1167 Fax: 916-447-2350 Email: mhac@cwo.com