While insurers and the federal government paid more for mental health services in recent years, spending on substance abuse treatment is almost nonexistent, according to a new study.
The study’s results in the new issue of Health Affairs come as Congress is attempting to boost treatment recovery options for drug addicts.
The study looked at mental health spending from 1986 to 2014. It found that the share of total mental health spending from private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid increased from 44 percent in 1986 to 68 percent in 2014.
Over that same time period the share of spending on substance abuse treatment was essentially unchanged, which was 45 percent in 1986 and 46 percent in 2014.
From 2013 to 2004, adults getting mental health treatment increased from 12.6 percent to 14.6 percent respectively, “albeit only because of the increased use of psychiatric medications,” the study said.
However, in that same time period only about 1 percent of adults got substance abuse treatment. The study did find that the use of “medications to treat substance abuse disorders increased rapidly.”
The findings, culled from private and federal health data, come at a time when Congress is debating what to do about the opioid abuse crisis, as federal figures show 72 Americans die every day from opioid and heroin abuse.
The House and Senate have both passed comprehensive bills aimed at increasing treatment options for drug addicts. Now the two chambers have to go to conference to reconcile the differences.
Democrats tried to include about $600 million in new mandatory funding for treatment recovery in both the Senate and House bills but were unsuccessful due to GOP opposition.
