Mental Healthcare Benefits Erode Farther and Faster Than Thought Landmark Study

Posted on May 6, 1998

Washington, D.C. - The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS), and the Association of Behavioral Group Practices (ABGP) will announce the findings of a landmark study demonstrating significant erosion of benefits for mental and addictive disorders over the past decade. The study is the first to provide a comparison of behavioral health benefit declines with trends in general healthcare benefit costs.

"Health Care Plan Design and Cost Trends: 1988-1997," prepared by the Hay Group, will be released at a news conference at the National Press Club. The dramatic cuts identified in the study put patient care at risk, according to both consumers and providers.

NAMI is the nation's leading grassroots organization solely dedicated to improving the lives of persons with severe mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), major depression, and anxiety disorders. NAMI has more than 172,000 individual members and 1,140 state and local affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Canada.

The National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems represents behavioral healthcare systems that are committed to the delivery of responsive, accountable, and clinically effective treatment and prevention programs for people with mental and substance abuse disorders. Its members are behavioral healthcare provider organizations.

The Association of Behavioral Group Practices advocates for a marketplace in which behavioral group practices can deliver effective, quality behavioral healthcare services and thereby improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities.