The Staggering Cost of the Opioid Epidemic

Plus, Pfizer's blockbuster vaccine sales ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [The Fisc](   By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey A pretty good Tuesday, especially if you happen to be one of the stars — or director, screenwriter, cinematographer or editor — of “The Power of the Dog,” the much-discussed “Western psychological drama” that racked up a dozen Oscar nominations today. Or Steven Spielberg, who is reportedly became first person to get Best Director nominations in six different decades. Far from the lights of Hollywood, things were a bit less dazzling, as lawmakers tried to work out a budget deal and a new analysis reminds us of the terrible cost of the opioid epidemic. Here’s what you need to know. House Passes Stopgap Bill to Avert Shutdown, Buy Time for a Broader Deal The House on Tuesday evening passed a stopgap bill to keep the government funded through March 11 while negotiations continue toward a broader “omnibus” spending package for the rest of fiscal year 2022. The short-term spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, would avert a government shutdown on February 18, when the current stopgap expires. “I would have preferred to come before the House to pass a fiscal year 2022 omnibus,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said. “But I believe we are very close to an agreement, and I am eager to move this process forward. I have every expectation that we can finalize a framework in short order, and then work together to fill in the details and enact an omnibus. The funding bill now heads to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said it will be taken up quickly. “While negotiations on a full year funding agreement continue, we will, in the meantime, avoid a pointless and costly government shutdown,” he said. Deficit Totals $259 Billion Over First Four Months of Fiscal 2022 The federal budget deficit was $259 billion over the first four months of fiscal year 2022, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in its monthly budget review published Tuesday. The figure for the first four months of the fiscal year “is roughly one-third of the deficit recorded during the same period last year ($736 billion) and about two-thirds of the shortfall recorded for the same period two years ago ($389 billion), right before the start of the coronavirus pandemic,” CBO said. Revenues were $331 billion, or 28%, higher while spending fell by $146 billion, or 8% compared with last year. Pfizer Vaccine Posts Highest One-Year Sales for Any Drug Ever Pfizer on Tuesday reported $36.8 billion in 2021 revenue from the Covid-19 vaccine it makes in partnership with BioNTech. That makes the vaccine the best-selling pharmaceutical product in a single year, Axios’s Bob Herman [reports]( — and it isn’t even close. Humira, the AbbVie drug used to treat arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn’s Disease, is next on the list with $20.7 billion in sales in 2021. Pfizer [told investors]( it expects $32 billion in revenue from its Covid shots in 2022, and another $22 billion from its antiviral treatment pill, Paxlovid. The company said its overall 2022 revenues should climb to record levels between $98 billion and $102 billion, up from $83.1 billion in 2021 and $41.9 billion in 2020. But Pfizer shares fell in Tuesday trading, as Wall Street was expecting higher revenues for the fourth quarter of 2021 and an [even stronger outlook]( for 2022. Opioid Deaths Cost $1 Trillion a Year: Report Warning that trafficking in synthetic opioids is a “threat to our national security and global competitiveness,” a bipartisan congressional group put a staggering dollar figure on the death, suffering and dislocation caused by the drugs: $1 trillion per year. Established in 2020, the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking was charged with examining the flow of lab-manufactured drugs into the U.S. The commission includes members of both houses of Congress, as well as staff from numerous federal departments and agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. According to a [report]( released by the commission Monday, more than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses in the year ending last June, an increase of nearly a third from the year before. And synthetic opioids such as fentanyl accounted for the majority of those deaths. Since 1999, overdoses have been responsible for more than 1 million deaths. “In terms of loss of life and damage to the economy, illicit synthetic opioids have the effect of a slow-motion weapon of mass destruction in pill form,” the report says. Putting a price tag on suffering: The commission relies on a 2018 report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers that concludes that opioid deaths were costing the U.S $696 billion at the time. Given the steady increase in the number of deaths since then, it is “reasonable to estimate that drug overdoses are now costing the United States approximately $1 trillion annually,” the report says. Most of the costs are associated with lost productivity, as well as health care and law enforcement. No solution in sight: “Shockingly, the number of overdose deaths in the United States has risen exponentially since 1979 and does not appear to be dropping any time soon,” the report says. Commission co-chair Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) said in a press release that 274 Americans die every day from overdoses, the equivalent of one person every five minutes — “and every day it gets worse.” The commission provided a long list of recommendations for addressing the crisis, including cracking down on Mexican drug cartels, which transport the majority of synthetic opioids into the U.S., as well as the Chinese manufacturers that provide some of the raw materials. Massachusetts to Start Sending $500 Payments to Low-Income Workers Massachusetts will soon begin distributing delivering $500 checks to half a million low-income workers, the state’s Republican Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday. The program, signed into law by Baker in December, will cost $460 million, or slightly more than 10% of the $4 billion the state received through the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. Individual workers will need to have earned at least $12,750 in 2020 to qualify for the first $500 payment from the program, but no more than 300% of the federal poverty level — in the case of a single filer with no dependents, the cutoff would be $38,280. Workers who received unemployment benefits in 2020, however, will not be eligible for the first round of payments, though they may qualify for the second round, which covers 2021. Send your feedback to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. And please tell your friends they can [sign up here]( for their own copy of this newsletter. 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