The shocking cost of addiction for employers

For those of you with private/company-supported medical insurance, you're probably familiar with those EOB statements you get in the mail after you go to the dentist or doctor - usually a bunch of codes and numbers and down at the bottom there's an amount you owe, regardless of the fact that you (and/or your company) pay a good sum of money each month to the same company that's supposedly covering the bill. This is the "circle of life" of our medical insurance system. 

When you get one of those statements and the number at the top is $127,000 it causes your heart to stop momentarily and the whole debate around insurance becomes SO REAL. Our family is one of the lucky ones who has insurance coverage through our employers and in the end will likely pay only 10% or so of the close to $170K that two Fentanyl overdoses cost. 

I sometimes wonder if people are aware of the very real impact this epidemic is having on their wallet, even if they've never taken as much as an aspirin - let alone Oxycontin, Morphine, Fentanyl or Xanax (to name only a few of the worst offenders.) 

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently did a study to determine the financial impact of the opioid epidemic on organizations. For context, about four in ten people addicted to opioids are covered by private health insurance and Medicaid covers a similarly large share. Large employers paid for more than $2.6 billion worth of opioid addiction and overdose treatment services in 2016 according to the study. 

Of that $2.6 billion, $2.3 billion was paid by insurance, while another $335 million was paid out of pocket—and more than half went toward covering employees’ children. Your employees are hurting, struggling with a life-threatening illness that's killing their child and chances are you don't even know it - they won't talk about it, thanks to the stigma. If their child had leukemia or juvenile diabetes there would probably be a dinner delivery schedule, car wash, bake sale or other fundraiser to help them through the hell they're experiencing. But parents don't talk about this life threatening illness that's tearing their family apart, and their work suffers too.  

I've developed a "lunch and learn" talk that provides a real but basic grounding in the epidemic that can be delivered to employees who wish to learn more. It's amazing to me that 3 or 4 people after the presentation will approach me asking specific questions about resources for a friend, family member or perhaps themselves. It's closer than you think. 

If you're in the HR or people - development group in your company I encourage you to start a dialog around this topic - you will be surprised at the response you receive - but employees need to know they'll be met in a safe space, with help and resources, not shame or even potential termination if they're struggling themselves.