Opioid abuse is as much an economic problem as a public health problem, according to a complete analysis provided first in Axios which concludes the total annual cost associated with each case is nearly $ 700,000.
Why is it important: The burden of costs falls unevenly, the states in a belt extending through the Appalaches in New England generally having bigger and a higher cost per case.
- Opioid use disorder cost the United States about 4 dollars in the United States last year, according to the analysis of swallowing, which used the 2017 figures for the 2024 net costs.
- “Although it is a cost for the government, it is also a cost for private companies, and the enormous cost, of course, is for people who have Oud,” said Margaret Scott, director of Bâtrere and author of the report.
By figures: The expected cost of opioid consumption disorders in 2024 varied from $ 419,527 per Idaho to more than $ 2.4 million in DC which covers loss of productivity, health insurance costs, lost goods due to crime and other variables.
- The cost per case has totaled more than a million dollars in Virginia-Western, Rhode Island, Ohio and Maryland.
- Part of the regional cost variation comes from the loss of tax revenue, which varies depending on the state. The local availability of treatment for opioid consumption disorder can also cause cost, said Scott.
Playing state: Opioid use disorder – defined as a frequent use of opioids and unsuccessful efforts to leave – should affect more than 6 million people in the United States.
- The cumulative economic burden for patients, including years of lost and reduced life, exceeded 3 dollars of dollars in 2024, estimated swallowing.
- Private companies have absorbed more than $ 467 billion in cost of productivity and health insurance costs while the federal government has increased around $ 118 billion in federal insurance costs, lost taxes and expenses of criminal justice.
- It cost the governments of states and premises of more than $ 94 billion, with approximately $ 42 billion in these criminal legal costs.
- The Trump administration published in March its own analysis which estimates illegal opioids cost the United States for around 2.7 billions of dollars in 2023.
Where it is: Treatment can affect costs by more than 40% in some cases, the analysis revealed.
- Behavioral therapy alongside the injectable buprenorphine with prolonged action – A treatment that reduces the risk of future overdoses – generated about $ 295,000 in cases per case, the largest cost savings in options, analyzed.
- Therapy plus methadone and therapy as well as buprenorphine administered through mucous membranes and mouths each save around $ 271,000. Behavioral therapy alone saves a project of $ 144,000 per case.
- Estimates of treatment savings assume that patients fully adhere to the diet for one year.
Yes, but: Federal data of 2022 showed that only one quarter of adults who needed drug treatment for OUD really obtained it.
- Less than half of adults who received OUD care that year received medication treatment.
- However, the distribution of buprenorphine increased considerably between 2019 and 2022, as policy changes during the COVVI-19 pandemic allowed people to start treatment via telehealth.
Between the lines: Deaths by overdose in the United States fell to the lowest level since 2019 last year, partly due to the extended availability of the naloxone overdose reversal medication. It is estimated that 80,391 people died of drug overdoses in 2024, down almost 27% compared to the previous year, for disease control and prevention data.
- But some experts in drug addiction say that the reductions in federal funding for grants and other changes of program led by the Secretary of Health and Social Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could harm the recovery programs for drug addiction.
The small characters: Indivior, a pharmaceutical company specializing in treatments for opioid consumption disorder, funded the analysis to swallow.
Publisher’s note: the story has been corrected to reflect that the total average annual costs associated with each case reflect the complete economic burden (not only the cost of treatment).
