Study on Drug and Alcohol Treatment Costs
A recent study suggests that hospital costs for alcohol or drug abusers can be substantial. Notable was that insurers spend very little on addiction treatment to prevent medical consequences of abuse.
It was found out that 14 percent of people admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1994 to 2002 were alcohol or drug abusers. Of these more than 43,000 patients, the researchers found, about half abused two or more drugs, resulting in hospital costs in 2002 of $28 million.
Twenty five percent abused only alcohol, which resulted in $20 million in hospital costs in year 2002. Treatment costs were risen each year of the study period. The stude was published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.