Changes in mental health financing since 1971: implications for policymakers and patients

The aggregate share that total mental health spending claims of national income has been stable over the past thirty-five years. This stability is a consequence of immense change--new organizational technologies, new treatment technologies, and a growing supply of providers. Aggregate spending stability has been accompanied by major shifts in the composition of financing, which have tended to spread the costs of mental illness more broadly but also have led to fragmentation in public responsibility for people with mental illnesses. Recent developments suggest that financing could be further constrained in the future, even as fragmentation continues to increase.