The contents of the nation's medicine cabinets are likely impacting the cost of your health insurance.

Back in 2007, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud (CAIF), an alliance of consumer groups, insurance companies and government agencies, reported that misuse of prescription painkillers was costing health insurers more than $72.5 billion a year.

That figure likely has become much higher, since the number of people abusing opoids -- drugs intended to alleviate pain -- has been steadily rising. The most commonly abused opioids are oxycodone, marketed under the brand name OxyContin, and hydrocodone, marketed as Vicodin.

Indeed, last year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report in which it said the abuse of prescription painkillers had grown to "epidemic" proportions.

Here's a chart on commonly abused prescription drugs from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Statistics are alarming

"According to the CDC report, more people now die from misuse of prescription painkillers than from cocaine and heroin combined," says James Quiggle, spokesperson for CAIF.

The problem affects people of all ages and from all economic groups, Quiggle says.

Some people who become addicted to painkillers "doctor shop": They visit different doctors to get multiple prescriptions for the same drug. The average doctor shopper can cost insurance companies $10,000 to $15,000 a year, Quiggle says.

"When someone becomes drug-dependent, his insurance company is not only paying for his drugs, but also possibly for his rehabilitation and medical treatment, which adds to the health care costs that everyone helps pay," Quiggle says. Insurance companies must pass along the costs of the drugs and treatment to other customers as "part of their normal cost of doing business."

And those numbers don't include the cost of lost workplace productivity or the costs to the criminal justice system, Quiggle notes.