While the human toll of the opioid crisis is incalculable, a new report released by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey has determined that the epidemic’s economic impact on Pennsylvania exceeded $53 billion in 2016.
“This epidemic knows no bounds,” Casey, D-Scranton, said in a statement Monday. “As the opioid crisis continues to grow in its intensity and its harm, too many Pennsylvanians are suffering and dying.”
Based on a study released last fall by the Council for Economic Advisers that estimated the cost of the crisis nationally at $500 billion, Casey’s report determined that the economic impact of opioid-related fatalities in the state between 2012 and 2016 was $142 billion.
Worse yet, as deaths from the crisis skyrocketed, so did the cost, from $30 billion in 2015 to nearly $50.5 billion in 2016. Additionally, health-care spending was $1.5 billion in 2016, followed by lost productivity at $1.17 billion, criminal justice expenses of $440 million and addiction treatment at $162 million.
Those costs brought the epidemic’s entire economic impact in the Keystone State to $53.77 billion.
“This report highlights the economic impact of the epidemic and the need to commit resources to our states and our local communities,” said Casey, who vowed to continue fighting for more funding.
“In my recent travels across Pennsylvania, to communities both large and small, one of the most common concerns in fighting the opioid crisis is the need for more support for local resources,” he said.
Late last month, three bills sponsored by Casey to address opioid use disorder issues passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee under the Opioid Crisis Response Act. The bills are the Supporting Infant Plans of Safe Care Implementation Act of 2018, Protecting Moms and Infants Act, and the Restricting Entrance and Strengthening the Requirements on Import Controls for Trafficking Illicit Drugs Act (RESTRICT).
“Whether working to prevent illicit fentanyl trafficking, helping opioid-dependent mothers and infants or assisting in the implementation of plans of safe care, these bills will do a great deal to strengthen our defenses as we continue to fight the opioid epidemic,” Casey said in an April 24 statement.