“Last week, President Donald Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers estimated that the opioid drug epidemic cost the country $504 billion in 2015—in terms of lost lives, lost productivity, health care, treatment, criminal justice and other costs. Altarum, a nonprofit research and consulting institute dedicated to improving health and health care, arrived at a cost estimate of $95 billion for 2016 using a different methodology. “Regardless of whether it’s $504 billion or $95 billion, these costs are far higher than what we’re spending on prevention and treatment,” says Corey Rhyan, senior analyst at Altarum’s Center for Value in Health Care.”
Read more at: http://time.com/money/5032445/cost-fix-opioid-crisis/
Source: Time.com – November 27, 2017