Report reveals staggering costs of opioid epidemic
Treatment bill neared $5.3B in state for 2024
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CapitolWire
A new analysis sheds light on the far-reaching costs of the opioid epidemic. The bill for opioid use disorder treatment shouldered by Pennsylvania and local governments in the state neared $5.3 billion in 2024, according to a report from Avalere Health.
Pennsylvania ranked high in both the cost of treatment and the price tag for property crime linked to opioid addiction.
The report found that opioid use disorder cost state and local governments $94 billion nationally in 2024. Only California, Florida, New York and Ohio had higher costs to state and local governments, according to the report.
"As states and local governments explore new strategies to reduce health care costs, encouraging public health, governments and payers to prioritize OUD treatments can lead to greater savings," said Michael Ciarametaro, managing director at Avalere Health.
State and local costs included items like the state's share of Medicaid and drug treatment, as well as criminal justice costs.
Cost of drug-related property crime
In addition, the researchers estimated what they characterized as the "societal costs " of opioid abuse, the price tag for "property lost from crime" related to drug abuse.
While Texas spent less of state and local government funds to respond to the opioid epidemic, the societal costs there were higher than in Pennsylvania.
The researchers estimated that the bill for opioid-related crime in Texas topped $83 million, compared to the $67.5 million price tag for property crime linked to opioid abuse in Pennsylvania.
California, Florida and Texas were the only states with higher property crime costs linked to opioid abuse.
Cost per patient
Avalere Health researchers discovered that the U.S. national average cost of OUD per case is nearly $700,000, with over $150,000 borne by government, businesses, and families. Of the treatments evaluated, long-acting injectables with behavioral therapy demonstrated the highest estimated annual per-case savings at $295,000.
The analysis estimated the average cost per patient in Pennsylvania at $728,202.
"Despite the well-established benefits of OUD therapies, individuals with OUD face significant barriers to treatment," said Margaret Scott, a Principal at Avalere Health. "Our study shows that barriers to care include physician stigmatizing and expressing reluctance to treat OUD patients, inadequate provider education and training, geographic distances to treatment locations, and social stigma."
Pennsylvania is in line to get more than $1 billion from a settlement with drug companies involved in the proliferation of opioids as the epidemic raged out of control.
The state's opioid trust fund last November approved $247 million in payments to county and local governments.
Gov. Josh Shapiro's budget proposal for 2025-26 calls for spending almost $5 million to provide Medicaid to individuals after they are released from prison, a move to allow them to continue addiction treatment.