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Finland: Alcohol costs the public healthcare system up to €1.1 billion annually


Tuore selvitys: Alkoholin kustannukset julkiselle terveydenhuollolle jopa 1,1 miljardia euroa vuodessa

21.08.2024 - Current estimates of the cost impact of alcohol on the healthcare system are significantly underestimated, as highlighted in a recent review conducted by FCG Finnish Consulting Group and commissioned by EHYT, an organization focused on preventive substance abuse work. Depending on the calculation method, alcohol could impose annual costs on the public healthcare system ranging from €648 million to €1.141 billion. This is a substantial amount, especially when compared to the total costs of inpatient care in primary healthcare in 2020, which amounted to €789 million. In terms of euros, alcohol generates the highest costs in Helsinki, Pirkanmaa, and Southwest Finland.


There has been considerable discussion recently about the crisis in Finland's healthcare system and the budget overruns in the wellbeing services counties. At the same time, alcohol availability has increased. It is well-known that alcohol consumption is a contributing factor to over 200 diseases and increases the risk of accidents requiring hospitalization, thus placing a burden on public healthcare and the finances of the wellbeing services counties.


The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) studied the societal costs of alcohol in 2013, estimating that alcohol cost the healthcare system €109 million. This estimate appears small when compared to Sweden, where the cost of alcohol to the public healthcare system alone was estimated at around €660 million in 2017.


"No comprehensive calculation of the societal costs of alcohol has been conducted in Finland for over a decade. It is clear that Finland needs an updated and more comprehensive estimate of the costs caused by alcohol, especially now that alcohol is increasingly present in everyday environments. The harmful costs of alcohol are already significant, and they should not be exacerbated by political decisions," says Juha Mikkonen, Executive Director of EHYT.


Alcohol represents a significant expenditure for wellbeing services counties

The new study utilized the total costs of public healthcare, which amounted to approximately €12.9 billion in 2021. Alcohol is estimated to cause 5% of all deaths in Finland. If the proportion of direct alcohol-related deaths is compared to the total healthcare costs, the costs attributable to alcohol would be €648 million in 2021.


However, the burden of alcohol-related diseases can be better represented by the years of life lost due to disability. This calculation method increases the costs caused by alcohol to €947 million. When healthcare costs are compared to all premature years of life lost (PYLL), the share of healthcare costs attributable to alcohol rises to as much as €1.141 billion per year.


"Premature years of life lost provide a scale for the health harms. Alcohol negatively affects people's health and creates a need for treatment for various diseases. This, in turn, increases the costs for the wellbeing services counties," notes Emma Kajander, Business Director and Expert Physician at FCG.


The estimate suggests that the highest costs from alcohol occur in Helsinki (€65–114 million), Pirkanmaa (€53–93 million), and Southwest Finland (€45–79 million) wellbeing services counties. As a comparison, in Kymenlaakso, alcohol generates an estimated cost of €24–43 million, while the annual cost of acute care services in Kouvola is around €20 million.


The study did not consider occupational healthcare or private healthcare services. Alcohol also imposes costs on other services, such as social services, child protection, the police, and the judiciary.


DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Year) is a way of assessing the burden of disease by accounting for both the years of life lost and the years lived with disability due to the disease. DALY = PYLL + years lived with disability (number of new cases of the disease × disability weight for the disease × duration of the disease).

PYLL (Potential Years of Life Lost) is a way of assessing mortality by considering the age at which death occurs and calculating the years of life lost relative to a full lifespan. For example, the death of a 25-year-old results in 50 years of life lost, while the death of a 70-year-old results in 5 years of life lost.


Source: EHYT ry

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