On October 19, the General Council of the NIHDI rejected the 2027 budget; the government will finalize it independently in December. Mental health care requires a dedicated budget, in line with WHO guidelines.
One sector, three budgets
In 2020, the Chamber of Representatives chose a growth trajectory towards 12% of healthcare expenditure for mental health. First-line psychological care is growing within this framework, with its own consultative committee, consultation codes, and a budget on track to reach 250 million euros. Outpatient psychiatry is the only mental health care discipline excluded from this trajectory, as it is financed at a different table. Mental health care is divided among the BFM for hospitals, the Medicomut for psychiatrists, and the psy-mut for psychologists, and no one at these three tables has jurisdiction over the sector as a whole.
The impact on patients
Reimbursed multidisciplinary consultations have existed for years in first-line psychological care and child and adolescent psychiatry, but are lacking in adult psychiatry. A needs assessment estimates the cost at 6 million euros per year, compared to 2.7 billion euros in disability benefits for depression and burnout in 2024. Following a psychiatric admission, barely one in six patients sees a physician within a week, and after six months, a third are readmitted (Independent Health Insurance Funds, 2026). The general nomenclature reform only offers prospects for psychiatry between 2029 and 2031. Those who fall through the cracks between first-line care and the hospital cannot wait that long.
What the WHO calls for
In its practical guide of October 9, 2026, the WHO calls for a bed moratorium and a legally mandated phase-out plan, accompanied by sufficient locally directed investments in community-based care. Treatment in one’s own environment protects against stigma, isolation, and hospitalization trauma. BFAP translates this into a single mental health care budget for hospital psychiatry, mobile initiatives, supported living, first-line psychological care, psychotherapy, and outpatient psychiatry, a single consultative committee modeled on the psy-mut, and legislation that enshrines the entire framework.
Only with a single budget can mental health care grow as a unified sector to meet the needs of the population.
Read the article in De Specialist.