A widening mental health care gap between wealthier and disadvantaged Australians has raised concerns about psychological treatment affordability, including for families in Frankston and across the Mornington Peninsula.
The Monash University study, involving 5.4 million Australians who received a Mental Health Treatment Plan between 2014 and 2023, found people from lower-income neighbourhoods were increasingly less likely to access psychotherapy.
Children were particularly affected. In 2023, just 32 per cent of children from the lowest-income neighbourhoods received Medicare-subsidised psychotherapy within three months of obtaining a treatment plan, compared with 55 per cent from the wealthiest neighbourhoods.
The gap between the highest and lowest income groups increased from 14 to 23 percentage points over the decade.
Rising mental health treatment costs
Average out-of-pocket costs for an initial psychological treatment session more than doubled, rising from $44 to $90 for children and from $35 to $80 for adults, after adjusting for inflation.
Associate Professor Nicole Black, from Monash University’s Centre for Health Economics, said the findings highlighted inequalities in access to care.
What is particularly concerning is that these are people who have already sought help from a GP and received a Mental Health Treatment Plan. Yet many are still not receiving psychological care, and that proportion is much higher among people living in poorer communities.
A companion study examining geographic differences found adults in disadvantaged communities were less likely to access psychotherapy across metropolitan and regional Australia.
The research does not provide specific treatment-access figures for Frankston or the Mornington Peninsula.
STPL News has separately reported on plans for a specialist mental health program in Mount Eliza and expanded mental health facilities at Frankston’s Peninsula University Hospital. These developments do not establish whether local demand for psychological treatment is being met.
Professor David Johnston, also from Monash University, said improving access required addressing both affordability and the availability of services.
Access to mental healthcare should be determined by a person’s need for treatment, not their ability to pay.
Researchers cautioned that the study did not establish whether rising costs directly caused the widening treatment gap.
