Introduction
In the United States, mental health illness has become a widespread issue. Its potential foresees dire consequences if it is left untreated. According to the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the encounter in a year in special mental health treatment centers has increased by approximately 50% between 1992 and 2000. It is estimated that one in four adults experience mental health disorders. This generates to about 57 million Americans. Furthermore, one in seventeen of these people experiences serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. The annual cost for mental illness, when calculated comes to an indirect sum of about seventy nine billion dollars. About 63 billion dollars of the entire amount represents the loss of productivity due to illness. VA mental health care is also inclusive in this report.
Statistics of mental disorder
It is estimated that about 2.4 million Americans, of the adult population, live with schizophrenia. About 5.7 million of the same populations live with bipolar depression, and major depressive disorders affect 6.7% of adults who generate about 14.8 million American adults. According to the World Health report, mental health disorder is the leading cause of disability in the United States and Canada. Furthermore, other disorders such as anxiety and panic, obsessive-compulsive behavior and post-traumatic stress affect about 18% of the adult population, which generates to about 40 million in number. More often than not, mental health disorders lead to suicide, which has become the 11th cause of death among Americans and the 2nd leading cause of death among young adults aged between 25 and 34. The statistics as exclusively related to Va mental health are discussed more as we go.
Statistics in Virginia
When it comes to Virginia, the estimated population of adults who suffer from mental health disorders is estimated to be about 308,000, which is about 6% of the population. This is the population said to have serious mental health in Virginia. The Community Service Boards are Virginia’s public mental healthcare providers and have served a number of individuals who generate about 126,000, in health care services in 2007. VA mental health psychiatric hospitals have served 5, 814 individuals as of the year 2007. This has cost the state about three and half-million dollars. In relation to the rest of the country, Virginia is ranked as 9th on spending on hospital-based care and 39th in spending on community-based care for services that have to do with mental health care. This report has been generated by the National Association of State Mental Health Providers. Virginia took steps in 1999 to pass a mental health parity bill which required a minimum standard of coverage for mental health treatment. Finally, in 2008, the General Assembly authorized 42 million dollars to go to mental health reform for the biennium period of 2008 to 2010.
According to a report on the Washington post in 2011, the VA mental health funding program was cut by 9 percent since 2007. These were the 17 largest spending reductions in the country. The slash generated to about 38 million dollars in cash being cut from programs that help the mentally ill in Virginia. As a consequential effect, the number of people served in hospitals took a fall from 5,697 to 5,309. However, the number aided by the community service boards took a turn for the rise from about 122,000 to 163,400.
The cutting down of costs from government funding amid the rising cases of mental health in the region has led to higher costs when it comes to treatment. Therefore, VA mental health care has become more expensive, and the people that go untreated often end up in emergency rooms or in the criminal-justice system. This ends up costing the taxpayers even more.
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