AHRQ: Mental health costs rising faster than for other high-cost conditions

The number of patients treated for mental disorders grew by 14 million between 2002 and 2012, while expenditures for mental disorders grew by $25 billion, according to a new report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. That’s a larger increase in cases and expenditures than for heart disease, cancer or any of the other top five costliest conditions, the report indicates. The five most costly conditions in 2012, from most to least, were heart conditions, trauma-related disorders, cancer, mental disorders, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease/asthma, the same as in 2002. For people with expenses for these conditions, the average expenditure per person was highest for cancer ($5,631) and heart conditions ($4,349). About 45.2 million people had expenses for mental disorders in 2012, slightly more than for COPD/asthma and more than for any of the other conditions. The estimates are based on data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, co-sponsored by AHRQ and the National Center for Health Statistics. Additional reports look at the costliest conditions for children and adults. To access the reports, visit meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb.