Opioid-Crisis Cost Revised to $504 Billion in Sixfold Surge
- Cost equal to 2.8 percent of GDP, the new report shows
- Findings come after Trump declared opioid abuse an emergency
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The opioid epidemic sweeping the U.S. is far costlier than once thought, with the economic impact of the crisis exceeding half a trillion dollars, according to a new report by White House economists.
The epidemic cost the American economy $504 billion in 2015, which was the equivalent of 2.8 percent of gross domestic product that year, according to the report by the Council of Economic Advisers, or CEA. The White House’s figures are more than six times larger than a previous study because it incorporates the value of lives lost to the epidemic.