(The Center Square) – A recent report from Avalere Health shows West Virginia’s state and local governments pay more per capita for opioid use disorder, or OUD, than any other state.
That figure tops $500 per person. It also topped the nation as a percentage of GDP, coming in at more than 6% of the state total.
The study looked at past figures to project estimated costs for 2024 for federal, state and local governments, private businesses, society as a whole via lost property and crime, individuals and households.
The total national costs were in excess of $3.9 trillion. West Virginia accounted for more than $52 billion of that with an OUD rate of more than 2%.
The figures reveal what could be described as an opioid tax levied upon the entire country, one that came in three waves beginning with the overprescription of pain medications like morphine and hydrocodone in the 1990’s. It gave way to a brief few years in which heroin proliferated starting around 2010 before escalating to the current flood of fentanyl and synthetic opioids on the street.
While external stakeholders like the government bear a significant portion of the burden, individuals bear the lion’s share of the cost. Nationally, the average case of OUD was about $695,000 annually, with $532,000 on the individual.
In West Virginia, the cost per case nearly doubles the national average, amounting to more than $1.2 million.
Much of the money lost comes in earnings for both employees and employers. Meanwhile, involvement in the judicial system, medical expenses, mortality and the treatment of neonatal dependence are typical expenses for both systems and individuals.
West Virginia has the highest overdose mortality rate in the country. In 2022, the CDC reported 80.9 deaths per 100,000 people. This represents 1,335 lives and a massive economic impact.
There is some hope to be found in the projections, however. Avalere calculated the average cost savings for different forms of treatment. Behavioral therapy alone can save $144,000 per case.
When medication is added to the treatment options, that number jumps. Behavioral therapy alongside any of the three approved therapeutic drugs, which include methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone, can save between $270,000 and $295,000.
This is an increasingly thorny problem in West Virginia, where resistance to medication assisted treatment has significantly narrowed the window of available options for patients. In March, SB 204, which would make methadone clinics illegal in the state, moved to the Senate Health and Human Services committee.
The bill demonstrates the persistent stigmatization of OUD, one of the biggest obstacles to accessing treatment. According to Avalere, educating more primary care doctors about treatment is an important step. Experts say it’s much easier to confront a case of OUD when patients are able to continue working and living in their communities while accessing help.
The study notes that Black and Latino youth are more likely to suffer from OUD, while white people are more likely to be prescribed painkillers that lead to the disorder. People who are incarcerated have additional challenges with recovery and are more likely to die from overdose after being released.
