By Nick Triggle
Health correspondent - BBC
Originally posted February 15, 2016
Inadequate and underfunded mental health care in England is leading to thousands of "tragic and unnecessary deaths" a review has found.
The report - by a taskforce set up by NHS England - said around three-quarters of people with mental health problems received no help at all.
It said more needs to be done to tackle rising suicide rates.
Ministers agreed with the findings, committing a £1bn extra a year by 2020 to treat a million more people.
This is to come out of the £8.4bn the government has promised to the health service during this Parliament and comes on top of extra money already announced for children's services.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the plan would help put "mental and physical healthcare on an equal footing".
The article is here.
Editorial Note: In spite of federal legislation in the United States insuring mental health parity, there are frequent reports of insurance companies not following the law. Additionally, the mental health system in the US is chronically underfunded through insurance companies as well as local, state, and federal systems.
