New Report Funded by the Long Island Community Foundation Reveals the Economic Impact of Long Island's Opiod Crisis
Advocates, Elected Officials, and Parents Unite for Groundbreaking Report
(Long Island, NY) Today the Fiscal Policy Institute’s new report “The Staggering Cost of Long Island’s Opioid Crisis” revealed the economic impact of this health crisis and how the financial burden is borne by all of us: as taxpayers, consumers, and businesses. While the devastating personal costs of addiction have always been clear, the report shows just how significant the effect has been on Long Island’s economy through lost productivity, and other costs to businesses, emergency services, libraries, and others. On Long Island, the opioid-related health crisis resulted in a staggering $8.2 billion in economic damage in 2017.
Funded by grants from the Long Island Community Foundation and the Claire Friedlander Family Foundation, and made public during National Recovery Month, FPI’s report moves the issues of addiction from the personal to the public by showing how interconnected and inescapable this health crisis is.
Here is a sample of the facts highlighted by the report:
• The opioid crisis has caused Long Island $8.2 billion in economic damage in 2017 – 4.5 percent of Long Island’s gross domestic product (GDP) of $182.5 billion in 2017.
• In 2017 Long Island’s total private sector healthcare costs associated with opioids amounted to $172 million.
• Suffolk County: private health care cost $117 million, lost productivity cost $136 million.
• Nassau County: private health cost $55 million; lost productivity cost $64 million.
Read the report at www.fiscalpolicy.org