United States – American families were discovered to spend nearly one-third of $4,361 more on helping a child with a mental health condition in 2021 than they did in 2017, a new study shows.
Costs Over the Years
In total, American families were estimated to have spent 31 billion in 2021 to cover child mental health services, which now constitute five successively higher percentages (about 47%) of all children medical expenses, according to the study, as reported by HealthDay.
These results “underscore the large financial burden associated with pediatric mental health conditions on the US health care system,” stated a team of Theoren Loo. This guy is with Brightline, which is located in California and provides a virtual mental health support service for children.
As the study authors noted, “the prevalence of pediatric mental health conditions and the demand for behavioral health services is growing in the US.”
Mental health
In 2021, the Surgeon General of the US, Dr. Vivek Murthy, published a report about “alarming increases in the mental health challenges” among kids in schools.
In this study, Loo’s team followed 2017-2021 spending on medical health from a random selection of US households’ data.
Researchers determined that there was a 21.9% surge in mental illness diagnoses during the period for 5 to 17-year-old kids.
Surge in Pediatric Mental Health Conditions

It is projected one in every four American children (25.9%) will be diagnosed with a mental health issue in 2021 and with an overall 9 million children having developmental concerns, according to the researchers.
The drop in family spending on child mental health programs was just as significant as the 31% rise to an average of $4,361 per year reported by Lee’s experts.
Interconnected Health
Parents who spend more on the mental health of their child see, on the other hand, an increase in average $2337 medical expenses for the rest of the family, and this happens together, the researchers pointed out. When the child suffers from poor mental health, they explained, surprisingly enough, “poor mental health among caregivers is associated with child mental health disorders.”
“Overall, pediatric mental health conditions were associated with $31 billion in child spending,” which ranges from $59 to $81 billion, including all the medical expenses as well, as reported by HealthDay.
Dollars spent on mental health services largely depend on the type of care, but funding for psychiatric medications and doctors’ visits may be okay “if the care is high quality and evidence based.”
Nevertheless, children are frequently left untreated until they require costly emergency room care. According to Loo’s team, this indicates “the need for improved care” for kids before emergencies happen.
Leave a Reply