The societal and emotional costs of the opioid epidemic are starting to gain more and more publicity as overdose deaths continue to rise. A new study has come out that highlights the economic costs, specifically on employers who are responsible for their employee’s healthcare and for the costs of their work-related injuries.

Castlight Health released a study using data from their benefit plan holders, and it shows almost a third of painkiller prescriptions that are paid for by an employer are being abused by the user. The study estimates that nationally, 4.5 percent of those who have an opioid prescription are abusive of their medications. They identified abusers as those who had received more than one 90 day supply of opioids, and who had gotten prescriptions from four or more providers over a five year study period. They excluded patients who were undergoing cancer treatments or in palliative care. They looked at medical reports and pharmacy data from over a million workers who were covered under the Castlight benefit plan from 2011 to 2015.

Castlight’s senior vice president of plan development and data operations, Kristin Torres Mowat, said that employers spend half of their total painkiller budget on medications for workers who abuse painkillers, and workers who are abusing painkillers cost their employers twice as much in medical costs as non-abusers. Non-abusers typically cost employers $10,853 in medical expenses, and abusers can cost employers $19,450. The study suggests that those in the “Baby Boomer” age bracket are four times more likely to abuse opioids than younger “Millennial” patients. Their findings also showed that the majority of major cities with higher-than-average opioids abuse rates are rural cities in the South.

According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine employers lose $10 billion a year on lack of productivity and absenteeism from work that is caused by opioid abuse. Though the CDC has mandated that prescriptions now carry a “black box” warning and they have suggested stricter guidelines for prescribing, the crisis is already out of control and shows no signs of slowing down. Hopefully now that more studies are being released highlighting the serious implications, and more media attention is focused on the problem, more and more people will recognize the problem and try to help slow it down.