Health Care Costs Much Higher For Those Later Determined To Have Treatment-Resistant Depression

Health care costs for people with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) are much higher than costs for people whose depression responds to antidepressants within 12 months of starting medication. Higher costs for the TRD population were observed for commercial insurers, Medicare, and Medicaid. For those who responded to treatment, their all-cause monthly per-person costs dropped by 21% to 32% from baseline to month 12, and their per-person monthly mental health related costs dropped by 33% to 61%. However, for those with TRD, the change in their all-cause monthly per-person costs ranged from an increase of 1 . . .