Most Americans say Congress should highly prioritize funding mental health programs

Washington, DC, November 29, 2023 – Amidst Congress’ final legislative session for the year, a new NAMI/Ipsos poll finds that most Americans say Congress is doing too little to address mental health care in the United States. While the vast majority of Americans say they agree mental health is just as important as physical health, most perceive gaps in mental health coverage and support legislation that would increase access to care, regardless of one’s ability to pay out-of-pocket. Ultimately, the majority of Americans say Congress should highly prioritize investing federal funding to increase access to mental health care while also expanding coverage through health insurers.

For more information about this study, please click here.

Detailed Findings:

1. There is strong widespread agreement that mental health is just as important as physical health. 

• Ninety-three percent of Americans agree mental health is just as important as physical health, and 72% strongly agree.
• Most Americans--regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, political affiliation, or sexual orientation--agree that mental health is just as important as physical health. Women, Democrats, and LGBTQ+ Americans are especially likely to say they strongly agree, but strong majorities of men, Republicans, independents, and non-LGBTQ+ Americans also strongly agree.

2. The majority of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, say Congress has done too little to address the current state of mental health care nationwide. More than half say federal funding for mental health care, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and suicide prevention programs should be high priorities for Congress to address.

• Three in five (61%) Americans say Congress has done too little to address the current state of mental health care. A majority of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, share this sentiment, including 72% of Democrats, 63% of independents, and 50% of Republicans.
• Sixty-four percent of Americans say Congress should highly prioritize federal funding for mental health care, and 26% say it should be their highest Mental health care funding is seen as a high priority by more Americans than any other issue asked about. 
• About three in five Americans say Congress should highly prioritize federal funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (57%) and suicide prevention programs (56%). One-fifth say Congress should make the Lifeline and suicide prevention programs their highest priority.

3. The vast majority of Americans agree that mental health crisis services should be available to everyone, not just to those who can pay out-of-pocket. Most also support expanding coverage of mental health care via health insurers.

• Ninety-one percent say all health insurance should cover mental health crisis services. The majority of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, agree, including 95% of Democrats and 89% of both independents and Republicans. 
• About nine in ten agree mental health crisis services should be available to everyone, not just to people who can pay out-of-pocket, and that insurers should cover mental health care services the same way they cover physical health services (91% and 90%, respectively). Here, too, there is strong bipartisan agreement.  

About the Study

This NAMI/Ipsos poll was conducted October 27-29, 2023, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 2,048 general population adults age 18 or older.

The topline is trended with four surveys. The first survey was conducted October 22-25, 2021, the second was conducted May 20-23, 2022, the third was conducted September 23-26, 2022, and the fourth survey was conducted June 2-11, 2023 all for NAMI by Ipsos. The October 2021 survey was based on a nationally representative probability sample of adults age 18 or older (N=2,049). The May 2022 survey was conducted based on a nationally representative probability sample of adults age 18 or older (N=2,045). The September 2022 survey was conducted on a nationally representative probability sample of adults age 18 or older (N=3,071). The June 2023 survey was conducted on a nationally representative probability sample of adults age 18 or older (N=2,073). Further information about each survey can be found at the following links: October 2021, May 2022, September 2022, June 2023.

The margin of sampling error for this study is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.11. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on other sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.

The data for the total sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, and household income. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2022 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS).

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor or higher)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)

About Ipsos

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Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. Our 75 solutions are based on primary data from our surveys, social media monitoring, and qualitative or observational techniques.

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