The opioid crisis took a financial toll on the following sectors: health care, premature mortality, criminal justice activities, child and family assistance and education programs and lost productivity. (Image: Shutterstock)
The cost in human terms is incalculable, but that doesn't mean that the monetary expense involved in the opioid epidemic was small.
In fact, according to a Society of Actuaries' (SOA) analysis of non-medical opioid use from 2015 to 2018, the opioid epidemic cost the U.S. economy at least $631 billion—and is likely to continue to do so in the future.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
