Provided by David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.
Surgeon General of the United States of America
Chapter 3: Children and Mental Health
Service Systems and Financing
In the past, mental health services paid for by the private sector were viewed as separate entities from those funded by the public sector, particularly since the public sector only paid for services that it itself delivered. As this section explains below, the distinction between public and private sectors has been blurred by the advent of publicly supported payment systems such as Medicaid and grants of public funds to private organizations and providers. Now in the public sector, services are paid for with governmental resources but delivered either by public or private organizations in institutional or community-based settings.
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