Spending on opioid addiction and overdose treatment among people with coverage from large employers increased from $273 million in 2004 to $2.6 billion 2016, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.
For the analysis, researchers examined claims from the Truven MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database for people covered by large employers with more than 1,000 employees. They looked at a sample of claims from each year starting in 2004 and ending in 2016, with samples being between 1.2 and 19.8 million enrollees.
Here are five findings.
Opioid prescribing
1. Opioid prescription use among people covered by large employers rose from 15.7 percent in 2004 to 17.3 percent in 2009. Since 2009, opioid prescription use declined 21 percent to 13.6 percent in 2016.
2. Some of the steepest declines in opioid prescription use among patients covered by large employers were identified among those who experienced complications during pregnancy or childbirth. Opioid prescription use among these patients fell 9 percent, from 35 percent in 2007 to 26 percent in 2016. During that same time period, opioid prescription use among people with a musculoskeletal condition fell 7 percent, and opioid prescription use among people who experienced injuries and poisonings fell 7 percent between 2009 and 2016.
Opioid spending
3. Overall, the analysis found spending on opioid prescriptions among enrollees in large employer plans reached its peak in 2009 at $1.9 billion. That's 27 percent higher than the $1.4 billion in 2016.
4. Enrollees were on the hook for $263 million, or 19 percent of total opioid prescription expenses, in 2016, according to the analysis.
5. In 2016, the cost of treating opioid addiction and overdose reached $2.6 billion. That compares to $2.5 billion in 2015 and $273 million in 2004.
Read more about the analysis here.
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