Mental health treatment providers strongly support the move by US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III to estimate the true costs the United States spends as a result of limited access to mental and behavioral health services, a tally of incarceration and addiction-fighting costs (“Kennedy says mental health study could address ‘structural disaster,’ ” Metro, Oct. 14). Policy makers need accurate information to make smart decisions.

We see the toll that mental health and addiction disorders take every day in our cities and towns in Massachusetts, where policy makers attempt to establish and fund programs and services for individuals and families affected by mental illness.

While Massachusetts is among the nation’s leaders in providing care for individuals with mental illness, the lack of coordination and consistent funding among state, federal, and local efforts to address mental health disorders leads to greater costs at the back end, in terms of homelessness, incarceration, and physical health problems.

The human toll of inadequate mental health treatment is too important to ignore the true economic costs.

Natick, MA