We’re Paying the Bill for Opioid Crisis
Nicole Hayden | Times Herald
MGA’s Christy Robinson in the Times Herald (Port Huron, MI) on the health care costs associated with opioid abuse:
“Outside of the cost to local communities, experts have also linked the economic impact of the opioid crisis to rising insurance costs in both the private and public sector. A study by Matrix Global Advisors, a policy group based in Washington, D.C., shows that the cost of the opioid epidemic in Michigan costs every resident in the state about $84 a year. . . . ‘The healthcare costs associated with opioid abuse are the equivalent of an extra $84 in healthcare costs per Michigan resident every year,’ said Christy Robinson, Matrix Global Advisors director. ‘But determining who pays which part of the $84 is outside of the scope of our analysis.’ The $84 per Michigan resident could be spread out over taxes to fund Medicare and Medicaid, in addition to increased private insurance premiums, for example.”
