What opioid addiction costs Arkansas
Opioid abuse is as much an economic problem as a public health one, according to a comprehensive analysis from Avalere provided to Axios.
Why it matters: The total average annual cost to Arkansas for each case is $551,000.
The big picture: The cost burden falls unevenly, with states in a belt stretching through Appalachia to New England typically having bigger caseloads and a higher cost per case.
Opioid use disorder cost the U.S. an estimated $4 trillion last year, per the analysis, which used 2017 figures to project 2024 net costs.
"While this is a cost to government, it's also a cost to private businesses, and the huge cost, of course, is to the individuals who have OUD," said Margaret Scott, a principal at Avalere and author of the report.
By the numbers: The projected cost of opioid use disorder in 2024 ranged from $419,527 per case in Idaho to more than $2.4 million in D.C. That covers lost productivity, health insurance costs, property lost to crime and other variables.
The cost per case totaled more than $1 million in West Virginia, Rhode Island, Ohio and Maryland.
Some of the regional variation in costs is from lost tax revenue, which varies by state. The local availability of treatment for opioid use disorder may also drive the cost, Scott said.
Zoom in: Overdose deaths from all drugs in Arkansas dropped 26% in 2024, according to CDC data.
In 2023, Arkansas Children's Hospital announced a $70 million National Center for Opioid Research and Clinical Effectiveness to be established in Little Rock with $50 million coming from opioid settlement money.
State of play: Opioid use disorder — defined as frequent opioid use and unsuccessful efforts to quit — is estimated to affect more than 6 million people in the United States.
The cumulative economic burden on patients, including years of life lost and reduced quality of life, exceeded $3 trillion in 2024, Avalere estimated.
Private businesses absorbed more than $467 billion in costs from lost productivity and health insurance costs while the federal government bore about $118 billion in Medicare and other federal insurance costs, lost taxes and criminal justice expenses.
It cost state and local governments more than $94 billion, with about $42 billion of that going toward criminal justice costs.
The Trump administration in March released its own analysis that estimated illicit opioids cost the U.S. about $2.7 trillion in 2023.
Treatment can defray the costs by more than 40% in some instances, the analysis found.
Behavioral therapy alongside long-acting injectable buprenorphine — a treatment that reduces the risk of future overdoses — generated an estimated $295,000 savings per case, the biggest cost-saver of the options Avalere analyzed.
Therapy plus methadone and therapy plus buprenorphine administered through mucous membranes like the mouth each save about $271,000. Behavioral therapy alone saves a project $144,000 per case.
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