Osan City Expands Coverage for Mental Illness Treatment Expenses

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Osan City announced on the 24th that it is expanding the coverage of initial diagnosis fees and outpatient treatment expenses under its 2021 mental illness treatment expense support program.

The mental illness treatment expense support program has been implemented since 2019 to establish a social safety net for mental illness patients who have not received treatment or have been neglected due to discontinuation of treatment. Starting this year, the city decided to expand the coverage of initial diagnosis fees and outpatient treatment expenses to include non-covered items.

Mental illness-related treatment expense support consists of emergency hospitalization treatment costs, administrative hospitalization treatment costs, outpatient treatment support, initial diagnosis fees, and outpatient treatment expenses.

Among these, the initial diagnosis fee will be expanded for those who received their first consultation in 2021. Coverage will be expanded from partial out-of-pocket expense support from psychiatry departments to full out-of-pocket expense support (including non-covered items). Outpatient treatment expenses will also be expanded from partial out-of-pocket expense support to full out-of-pocket expense support (including non-covered items).

More details on the 2021 mental illness treatment expense support program can be found on the Osan Mental Health and Welfare Center website (http://www.osanmh.com/). For inquiries, contact the Osan Mental Health and Welfare Center at 031-374-8680.

Ko Dong-hoon, director of the Osan City Health Center, said, "We will work to expand voluntary treatment targets for citizens' mental health management and strengthen support to focus on early diagnosis and prevention of mental illness."