People willing to pay higher taxes for mental care

People are willing to pay to pay higher taxes for community based mental care as the economic cost of dealing with mental health problems soars above the three billion mark, research has shown.

The report, published yesterday by the Mental Health Commission, found that the healthcare system accounts for less than one-quarter of the costs involved.

The main costs were in the labour market and were caused by lost employment, absenteeism, lost productivity and premature retirement.

There are also costs imposed on the prison service, social services dealing with homelessness and informal care costs, as well as lost output and productivity.

Human and social costs associated with mental health problems, including pain, suffering, stigma, reduction in quality of life and suicide are not included in the baseline estimates.

The report found that people would be willing to make significant tax contributions to new community-based services for people with mental health problems.

It also found, however, that people tended to prefer spending on cancer and ageing programmes more than mental care.

Evelyn Ring, irish Examiner

Full story at-http://www.irishexaminer.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=72650-qqqx=1.asp

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