Last week Altarum issued a new analysis that demonstrates that the opioid epidemic is costing this country $95 billion in annual costs. More specifically in 2016. According to their research $43 billion was from the economic impact from the loss of life, the next largest costs were $12 billion due to lost productivity due to addiction. The study also judged the child and family costs (including child protection) at $6.1 billion and added $4.4 billion in education related costs. By comparison the federal government spent approximately $5 billion in foster care costs in 2016. According to the study approximately half of the total $95 billion was by the private sector whereby the federal government absorbed 31 percent of the costs.
