Mentally ill becoming an underclass in Australia

A recent survey by mental health charity SANE Australia, involving 371 patients, has found that many Australians with mental illness are often forced to choose between medical treatment and putting food on the table.

The study has revealed that 38% of respondents have an annual income of less than $20,000, 54% often could not afford treatments recommended by their doctor and 96% had at times to choose between healthcare and essentials such as food.

The report also found that 17% of respondents spend more than $100 a month on medication, and yet 32% were not registered with Medicare Safety Net.

SANE says debt is a major issue with more than half of respondents (53%) relying on credit cards to help ends meet, and 29% having been contacted by debt collectors in the past year.

The charity says some of those who are mentally ill are in danger of becoming an underclass and the Government urgently needs to do more to ensure that all people with mental illness are able to access the treatments they need.

SANE says whether it is for psychiatric care or for the other chronic conditions healthcare must be made affordable for people on low incomes.

It is known that there are much higher rates of chronic conditions among the mentally ill than the general population and SANE says targeted financial support from the government is called for to support financial literacy and counselling programs for people with a mental illness.

The survey also found one-third of respondents (31%) were smokers - compared with 18% of the general population and almost half of smokers said they could not afford nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), the most effective aid to quitting, even though they wanted to stop smoking.

SANE's Executive Director Barbara Hocking says, 'now more than ever, with the proposed increased costs of cigarettes, subsidised NRT is urgently needed for people with mental illness as well as other disadvantaged, low income groups to enable them to live a healthier, smoke-free life.'

SANE Research Bulletin 9: Money and Mental Illness, can be downloaded from the Research area of the SANE website at www.sane.org