Depression Takes Financial Toll in Florida
Survey shows the state is affected more than the national average.
By Robin Williams Adams
The Ledger
By Robin Williams Adams
The Ledger
LAKELAND -- The financial impact of clinical depression in Florida is significantly higher than the national average, according to survey results released Tuesday by a mental-health advocacy group.
Self-reported credit card debt and negative consequences attributed to depression -- such as time missed from work -- contributed to about $19,400 in out-of-pocket costs for Florida residents with depression. That was about $8,300 more than for others with depression in the United States, the National Alliance on Mental Illness said.
"That's an impressive number," said Dr. Ken Duckworth, a psychiatrist who is NAMI's national medical director. "People in Florida are paying a lot."
Lack of access to care hurts the job prospects, finances and relationships of people with depression, said Richard Durstein, NAMI's executive coordinator for legislative and government affairs in Pinellas County.
The Florida results were announced at a news conference in St. Petersburg.
Sixty percent of those surveyed said depression hurt their ability to interact with their children. Almost one-fourth of those surveyed in Florida who were working said depression reduced their productivity at work by an average of six days a month.
The restricted Medicaid drug list in Florida is one of the latest barriers to good treatment, said Risdon Slate, a Florida Southern College professor who has been a board member of NAMI.
"If you're on a medication that is working, but it isn't on the preferred list, they will take you off that medication and put you on something cheaper," Slate said.
"They have a fail-first policy." Although doctors can appeal decisions made to change their patients' medicine, Slate said he has heard a majority of appeals are denied.
The information on Florida comes from a survey conducted online by Harris Interactive among 2,880 people in five states, including 542 in Florida, and a national sample of 3,542.
The overall results have a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Booz Allen Hamilton used the data Harris provided to estimate the social and economic costs of depression.
Some local experts question the validity of the findings, although they agree that Florida has low mental-health funding.
Neal Dwyer, who monitors local mental-health programs for the Department of Children & Families, said the number interviewed is too small.
"I would like to see them do it on a larger scale," he said.
Bennie Allred, senior director of clinical operations for Peace River Center, a community mental health center, also questioned the sample size.
He added, however, that Florida ranks extremely low in mental-health funding. That could be one reason for higher costs, he said, as could the state's high percentage of senior citizens and the lingering impact of hurricane-caused trauma.
The survey indicated widespread undertreatment and incomplete diagnoses in Florida.
Fewer than one-third of Floridians living with depression receive both psychotherapy and prescription medicine, although that combination is the most effective treatment, the survey found.
Many Florida residents with depression have symptoms of other conditions, such as generalized anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder, but haven't been diagnosed with them, NAMI said.
"If you have depression, you may have another condition," NAMI's Duckworth said.
Self-reported credit card debt and negative consequences attributed to depression -- such as time missed from work -- contributed to about $19,400 in out-of-pocket costs for Florida residents with depression. That was about $8,300 more than for others with depression in the United States, the National Alliance on Mental Illness said.
"That's an impressive number," said Dr. Ken Duckworth, a psychiatrist who is NAMI's national medical director. "People in Florida are paying a lot."
Lack of access to care hurts the job prospects, finances and relationships of people with depression, said Richard Durstein, NAMI's executive coordinator for legislative and government affairs in Pinellas County.
The Florida results were announced at a news conference in St. Petersburg.
Sixty percent of those surveyed said depression hurt their ability to interact with their children. Almost one-fourth of those surveyed in Florida who were working said depression reduced their productivity at work by an average of six days a month.
The restricted Medicaid drug list in Florida is one of the latest barriers to good treatment, said Risdon Slate, a Florida Southern College professor who has been a board member of NAMI.
"If you're on a medication that is working, but it isn't on the preferred list, they will take you off that medication and put you on something cheaper," Slate said.
"They have a fail-first policy." Although doctors can appeal decisions made to change their patients' medicine, Slate said he has heard a majority of appeals are denied.
The information on Florida comes from a survey conducted online by Harris Interactive among 2,880 people in five states, including 542 in Florida, and a national sample of 3,542.
The overall results have a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Booz Allen Hamilton used the data Harris provided to estimate the social and economic costs of depression.
Some local experts question the validity of the findings, although they agree that Florida has low mental-health funding.
Neal Dwyer, who monitors local mental-health programs for the Department of Children & Families, said the number interviewed is too small.
"I would like to see them do it on a larger scale," he said.
Bennie Allred, senior director of clinical operations for Peace River Center, a community mental health center, also questioned the sample size.
He added, however, that Florida ranks extremely low in mental-health funding. That could be one reason for higher costs, he said, as could the state's high percentage of senior citizens and the lingering impact of hurricane-caused trauma.
The survey indicated widespread undertreatment and incomplete diagnoses in Florida.
Fewer than one-third of Floridians living with depression receive both psychotherapy and prescription medicine, although that combination is the most effective treatment, the survey found.
Many Florida residents with depression have symptoms of other conditions, such as generalized anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder, but haven't been diagnosed with them, NAMI said.
"If you have depression, you may have another condition," NAMI's Duckworth said.