The medical cost of prescription opioid abuse in the United States is estimated to be more than $300 billion a year.\u00a0 That\u2019s billion with a \u201cb.\u201d<\/p>\n
This statistic, which almost knocked me out of my chair, was presented recently at a conference of the New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Association by Dr. Charles Kennedy of Corpus Christi, TX, an expert on occupational medicine issues.\u00a0 This part of his talk was subtitled \u201cPain Medication Crisis.\u201d\u00a0 No kidding.<\/p>\n
A few more statistics from Dr. Kennedy:<\/p>\n
The USA has only 4 percent of the world\u2019s population, yet we consume 80 percent of the world\u2019s opium supply and 99 percent of the world\u2019s hydrocodone.<\/p>\n
Compared to non-abusers, opiod abusers were 78 times more likely to have a non-opioid poisoning.\u00a0 That\u2019s seventy-eight, not a typographical error.<\/p>\n
Abusers were 36 times more likely to have Hepatitis A, B, or C and\u00a0 21 times more likely to have pancreatitis.\u00a0 The national average for health care costs for an opioid user is $15,884 per year compared to $1,830 per year for the rest of us (based on a statistic from 2005).<\/p>\n
To put these numbers in context, a report from the US Department of Health and Human Services said the nation\u2019s 10 most expensive health conditions cost about $500 billion to treat in 2005.\u00a0 In other words, costs related to opioid abuse were more than half as much as the combined total of heart disease, cancer, trauma, pulmonary disease, and six other major conditions.<\/p>\n
We can\u2019t measure the human cost in pain, suffering, and the waste of life, not just to drug addicts but to their families and those around them.\u00a0 This is one piece of our national health care dilemma that is not only tragic and unacceptable but something we ought to be able to fix.<\/p>\n
Some of these tragedies result from work-related injuries, which puts them into the workers’ compensation field, which I know something about.\u00a0 The drug abuse problem is common knowledge in work comp circles, but what to do about it is not clear at all.<\/p>\n
In work comp, unfortunately, patients and doctors are sometimes suspicious of one another.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So — according to the anecdotes — if the patient doesn\u2019t get his prescription, he thinks the doctor is conspiring with the insurance company.\u00a0 That is not a basis for a healing relationship.\u00a0 Another common story is that some doctors prescribe pain medication because it\u2019s less stressful for the doctor than explaining why it\u2019s better not to.\u00a0 But these are just two versions of a more complex mythology.<\/p>\n
The numbers tell us that this is a much bigger concern for us Americans than in other countries.\u00a0 Maybe all that drug advertising on TV has succeeded in brainwashing us into believing that any problem can be solved with a pill.<\/p>\n
There are ways, including medications, to break the addiction.\u00a0 If you know someone with this problem, tell him, and suggest he ask his own doctor.<\/p>\n
There is another side to the opioid story that must be given its due: for some people, nothing else provides relief, and for them, narcotics are a genuine blessing.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, there are just a few things we can say for certain:\u00a0 this problem exists in every neighborhood, probably including yours.\u00a0\u00a0 And one essential of a successful health care system is patients who understand what\u2019s happening to them.\u00a0 A health care system that measures the minutes of doctor visits and penalizes doctors who spend time with their patients is neither cost-effective nor logical.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2010; posted in 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The medical cost of prescription opioid abuse in the United States is estimated to be more than $300 billion a year.\u00a0 That\u2019s billion with a \u201cb.\u201d This statistic, which almost knocked me out of my chair, was presented recently at … Continue reading