The High Price of Opioid Abuse & Overdose

(Winter 2016) The results of recent research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that the price tag for healthcare associated with opioid abuse in the United States reached $78.5 billion in 2013. This number has been on the uptick since 2007 when similar healthcare needs were ballparked at $55.7 billion. The CDC revealed that over $8.5 billion was bankrolled by public health insurance, and another $2.5 billion was underwritten by government substance abuse treatment programs. In all, close to one-fourth of the costs fell to the public.

Looking more closely at the health insurance aspect of this issue, data analysis concludes that between 2011 and 2015 insurers’ costs for individuals with an opioid abuse or dependence diagnosis ballooned from $32 million to $446 million. Overall, insurers paid an average of $3,400 per patient each year, but for individuals with a diagnosis of opioid abuse or dependence the price tag rose to over $19,000 each. The majority of these costs arose from emergency room visits and lab tests.

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