A hefty bar tab and splitting headache aren't the only costs of a night of binge drinking. A study published this month by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reveals that excessive alcohol consumption cost the United States $249 billion in 2010.
The journal's results indicate that:
Excessive drinking cost the U.S. $249.0 billion in 2010, or about $2.05 per drink. Government paid for $100.7 billion (40.4%) of these costs. Binge drinking accounted for $191.1 billion (76.7%) of costs; underage drinking $24.3 billion (9.7%) of costs; and drinking while pregnant $5.5 billion (2.2%) of costs. The median cost per state was $3.5 billion. Binge drinking was responsible for >70% of these costs in all states, and >40% of the binge drinking-related costs were paid by government.
According to the findings, the biggest economic loss from all this drinking was lost productivity. The category comprised $180 billion or 71.9% of total costs during the year. Examining the data further, it is seen that 'impaired productivity at work' was the biggest contributor with $76.8 billion in expenses. Productivity at home added another $6.2 billion while alcohol related absenteeism chipped in with $4.6 billion.
Healthcare was the second biggest spender with $28.3 billion which made up 11.4% of the spending. Sub categories under this branch include alcohol related specialty care ($12bn), Hospitalization ($5.9bn), and Ambulatory care ($1.5bn).
Some other notes from the study.
So the next time you think about downing a few cold ones, remember the billions of dollars you could be costing the government.
To see the entire report check out this link.