Namwon Public Health Center Promotes 'Mental Illness Treatment Expense Support Project'

[Namwon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jeong Young-kwon] On the 21st, the Namwon City Public Health Center in Jeonbuk announced that it will promote the ‘Mental Illness Patient Treatment Expense Support Project’ to provide focused treatment for citizens suffering from mental illnesses.

This project aims to support emergency hospitalization fees, administrative hospitalization fees, treatment costs for early-stage mental illnesses (within 5 years of onset), and outpatient treatment support costs.

The eligibility for support for early-stage mental illness and outpatient treatment has been lowered from 65% to 80% of the median income, and in the case of emergency and administrative hospitalization, the full out-of-pocket treatment costs are supported regardless of income level.

Additionally, the scope of support for early-stage mental illness treatment costs has been expanded from the existing schizophrenia, split and delusional disorders to include some mood (affective) disorders.

If patients wish to receive support for mental illness-related treatment costs, the patient or guardian must apply to the public health center with jurisdiction over the patient’s address, and the mental medical institution treating the patient can claim the treatment costs at the public health center with jurisdiction over the institution’s location.

Lee Soon-rye, Director of the Public Health Center, said, “By expanding this project, we can reduce the economic burden on families and ensure that citizens who need treatment can receive appropriate and continuous care early on. We will continue to strive for early diagnosis and prevention of mental illnesses to manage the mental health of our citizens.”