2023-09-01 15:56:01
When the Medef returned, the socialist deputy Boris Vallaud called for investing in mental health to allow the French to be well and to be able to work.
“Do you know what the cost of not taking care of mental health in France is?”launched the socialist deputy of Landes Boris Vallaud, Tuesday, August 29, during a debate on the State and public spending during the days of return to Medef. “110 billion”he continued, before asking his debaters if they did not think“that there should be investment in mental health so that people feel good to go to work”. One hundred and ten billion, really?
But what world do liberals live in? #LaREF23 pic.twitter.com/S53utBJk98
— Boris VALLAUD (@BorisVallaud) August 30, 2023
A figure from 2007
It’s wrong. In fact, it’s even more. Contacted by franceinfo, the team of the president of the socialist group in the National Assembly explains that the elected official relied on a figure given by the Strategic Committee for Mental Health and Psychiatry when it was created in 2018. But in reality this figure is even older. Moreover, he does not speak only of the non-support of mental health, as the elected official says a little quickly, but of the cost of mental health in general – which the team of the deputy agrees. He also reminds franceinfo that the socialist deputies will present a “mental health” plan in the fall of 2023 with an updated figure.
Nevertheless, this cost of 110 billion euros must be taken with caution. This is the conclusion of a study published by French doctors and researchers in 2012, which is cited in particular by the High Authority for Health. It concludes precisely at 109 billion euros. But its calculations refer to the year 2007. The study counted the actual expenditure for medical care (13.4 billion euros) and medico-social care (6.3 billion euros), i.e. approximately 20 Billions of Euro’s.
The rest, i.e. around 90 billion euros, should be taken with caution because it is a theoretical cost made up of both an estimate of a loss of earnings due to the loss of production caused by psychological disorders (24.4 billion euros) and, for a larger part, a conversation in money of the loss of quality of life of the population (65 billion euros). In other words, regarding 80% of the 110 billion quoted by the deputy are purely abstract. “This aggregation has the advantage of simplifying [ce qui permet de comparer la France à d’autres pays européens] and presents the point of view of health insurance and medico-social, companies and the population”explains to franceinfo Isabelle Durand-Zaleski, who participated in the study, “but the total sum does not in any way represent a real expense. The only real expense is the medical and medico-social sum”.
Some 163 billion euros in 2018
Once these precautions have been mentioned, it is important to remember that the study is quite old. A team of researchers, including Isabelle Durand-Zaleski once more, published a second in the spring of 2023. It covers the year 2018 and its conclusions are even higher. According to her, the cost of mental health was 163 billion euros that year, an increase of 50% in 11 years.
Medical expenditure rose in 2018 to 23 billion euros, medico-social expenditure to 13 billion euros. As for the estimates, they amounted to 44 billion euros for the loss of earnings due to the drop in production and 83 billion euros for the loss of quality of life.
Another analysis carried out by the OECD at the European level, relating to the year 2015, has different conclusions, but it does not take into account an estimate of the loss of quality of life, which represents a large part of the conclusions of the study of French researchers. The OECD concludes that real expenditure is higher than these researchers: 29 billion euros for medical and 26 billion euros for social, or 55 billion euros in real expenditure. The OECD adds 25 billion euros in indirect costs, taking into account only the loss of productivity through the absence of employment, absenteeism and presenteeism.
All these figures date from before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic which increased mental health problems, but “it is too early to assess”, assures Isabelle Durand-Zaleski. Some numbers might even be counter-intuitive and have decreased because “During the pandemic, real expenditure (medical and medico-social) decreased since access to care was limited”. It is therefore impossible for the moment to say whether the cost of mental health is now higher or lower than in 2018.
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