Stop Smoking, It's Killing the Nation's Finances

A few weeks ago, I posted on Stop Smoking, It's Killing Your Finances. In that post, I noted that smoking can easily cost $1,000 to $4,000 per year just for the cost of the cigarettes.  Then I commented:

"Multiply this by five, ten, or twenty years (or more!) that people smoke, add in what they could have earned if they had invested the money. Then consider the extra health care and insurance costs of smokers and you can really see that from a financial point of view, smoking does not pay."

Today I ran into another article that shows that an individual's finances aren't the only ones to suffer when he smokes.  It also impacts the entire nation.  In Smoking Takes Huge Toll on U.S. Productivity, USA Today notes:

"Premature deaths due to smoking cost the United States about $92 billion in lost productivity from 1997 to 2001, up about $10 billion from 1995 to 1999, according to a new federal report.  When this lost-productivity estimate is combined with smoking-related health care costs, the sum exceeds $167 billion annually, the report said."

Not only is it costing us financially, it's killing a lot of people:

"The report also found that every year from 1997 to 2001, there were some 438,000 premature deaths linked to smoking and secondhand smoke. From 1995 to 1999, an estimated 440,000 people died each year from smoking-related causes, the report said."

And the solution is readily available:

"Malarcher said there are effective strategies to get people not to smoke in the first place, and to quit if they do smoke. 'One of the major strategies is to raise the price of tobacco. That discourages kids from taking up smoking and also leads to quitting among people who are smokers.' Media campaigns are also effective, Malarcher said."

But, alas, the money doesn't exist for these campaigns:

"What's hindering these strategies is a lack of money. 'Right now, the programs really are underfunded,' Malarcher said."

And if we could somehow come up with the money, it would be well worth the investment:

"If you compare the funding levels to all of the lost productivity, they cost less than 1 percent, she added."

After that, we'd be rid of smoking fairly quickly:

"'We know how to rapidly reduce smoking,' he said. 'If you got out there with a smart, aggressive campaign, you could probably almost wipe smoking out in five or six years. That would be reflected in a huge drop in medical costs.' "

Even if we don't do this as a nation, you should stop smoking as an individual. By continuing (or starting) smoking, you're literally sending your money up in smoke.

Thanks to Money and Investing for pointing me to the article.

Comments

[MO Rules]

Why should I quit smoking? First off....all the COOL people smoke. Nothing is cooler then seeing someone light up a cig and take a drag.
Second off, Smoking is not bad for your health. Asians smoke 3 packs a day and will outlive most Americans. I will quit smoking when Americans quit shoving oreo cookies and twinkies down their throats.
Lastly, MO is the greatest stock in the world. MO has more money then most nations on this planet. Keep the lawsuits coming ...yet MO is still rolling in cash.....cash is coming out of their wazoooo....

[hp]

Concur with MO rules. Proud owner of MO. Whether you smoke or not, you are putting MO in your mouth everyday.

[james]

I agree. There is nothing wrong with an occasional smoke and tobacco stocks are great investments!

[james]

I agree. There is nothing wrong with an occasional smoke and tobacco stocks are great investments!

[RFTR]

And, may I ask, what's the benefit to driving tobacco companies out of business? What's going to happen to all of the employees involved in the cigarette-making processes?

[Trey]

I'm an ex-smoker (smoked for 6 years). The cost of smoking never bothered me. A pack of smokes for 5 bucks gave me more pleasure than an equivalently priced beer at a bar or a VentiMochaFrappaCarmaHazaBrownie Latte from a local multinational coffee house.
Smoking was nice. I liked it.
The idea that any stupid behavior with a possibly negative economic effect should be legistlated out of existence is absolutely ridiculous. Lowering speed limits, taxing junk food out of existence, banning Roller Coasters, abolishing alcohol, etc... might very well drop medical expenses and keep people alive longer and thus benefit the economy, but who wants to live in a world like that?
Quality of life has to come in somewhere.

[Susan R]

I think the only clear conspiracy is the one the tobacco industry has created. They are the greedy ones seeking control!

[Amber]

what's the benefit to driving tobacco companies out of business?

[Andrew Spark]

We need to save ourselves & our new generation to smoking because smoking is very injurious for health.

[mysticaltyger]

Quality of life does, indeed, matter. That's another reason why it would be nice if no one smoked. It not only kills people prematurely and raises medical costs, it's effects on a person's quality of life while there alive aren't so good, either.

[Ger. D.]

Junk food and cigarettes should`t exist. It kills.

Avoid anything that will make you feel like having a cigarette and make arrangements to do things that will keep you occupied and help you to keep your mind off the cravings that are bound to happen