The report was written by Charles Roehrig, PhD, founding director of the Altarum Institute’s Center for Sustainable Health Spending. Data sources used for Dr. Roehrig’s analysis include CMS’ National Health Expenditure Accounts, the Commerce Department Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Health Care Satellite Account and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.
The resulting report shows mental disorders not only have the highest estimated spending, they top the list by a considerable margin. Heart conditions have the next highest estimated spending, with $147 billion, which is $54 billion less than spending for mental disorders.
The three conditions with the next highest estimated spending, after mental disorders and heart conditions, are trauma ($143 billion), cancer ($122 billion) and pulmonary conditions ($95 billion).
Notably, the rankings include data on institutionalized populations, a group that has not typically been included in national estimates of health spending. Of the $201 billion spent of mental disorders, roughly 40 percent of spending was for institutionalized populations.
“One key finding of this study is the degree to which spending on mental disorders in 2013 exceeded that on all other medical conditions, including heart conditions, trauma and cancer,” wrote Dr. Roehrig. “Spending on mental disorders tends to be underestimated in other sources because institutionalized populations are excluded.”
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