Spending On Mental Health And Substance Abuse Treatment, 1987–1997

Abstract

This paper is the result of an ongoing effort to track spending on mental health and substance abuse (MH/SA) treatment nationwide. Spending for MH/SA treatment was $85.3 billion in 1997: $73.4 billion for mental illness and $11.9 billion for substance abuse. MH/SA spending growth averaged 6.8 percent a year between 1987 and 1997, while national health expenditures grew by 8.2 percent.