3 ms·

I think these estimates from the CDC are pretty conservative. In the US, EVERY YEAR: "Smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion

I think these estimates from the CDC are pretty conservative. In the US, EVERY YEAR: "Smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion each year. Nearly $170 billion for direct medical care for adults More than $156 billion in lost productivity, including $5.6 billion in lost productivity due to secondhand smoke exposure" https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/economics/econ_facts/index.htm https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/econ... OFF-TOPIC A major way (the only way?) to curb tobacco usage is to simply increase taxes on tobacco usage, but politicians/bureaucracy prefers the short-term tobacco tax revenue. Cool article about Chinese tobacco tax rev: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-12/the-chinese-government-is-getting-rich-selling-cigarettes https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-12/the-chine...

metaphor 9y ago
Thanks for the link. CDC's reference 11 seems particularly relevant[1], although the $170 billion measure is not totally attributable to the government: from Table 3, more like $108.4 bil between Medicare ($45.0 bil), Medicaid ($39.6 bil), and other federal programs ($23.8 bil; e.g. Tricare, VA health benefits, etc.). The paper's data set and method of extrapolating portions of healthcare expenditures attributable to smoking does raise an eyebrow at first glance, but I've admittedly not dived deep enough. EDIT: > A major way (the only way?) to curb tobacco usage is to simply increase taxes on tobacco usage... If by curb you mean reducing the number of new adopters proportional to overall population, I agree and would support such a measure. As a former smoker and current smokeless tobacco user myself, I'd say those of us who fell for the trap are fucked six ways from Sunday; as much as I'd like to quit, my mind and body are way too dependent on nicotine to function effectively on a day-to-day basis. I'd need roughly 3 months of leave and a lot of mindless distractions to drop the habit. A significant increase in per-unit cost for no apparent reason (like 2-3x overnight) would probably work too...like a proverbial slap to the face that would incite just enough outrage on the merits to serve as an effective distraction, hopefully for long enough to allow physiological dependencies to permanently fade. [1] https://sci-hub.cc/10.1016/j.amepre.2014.10.012 https://sci-hub.cc/10.1016/j.amepre.2014.10.012

metaphor 9y ago

Thanks for the link. CDC's reference 11 seems particularly relevant[1], although the $170 billion measure is not totally attributable to the government: from Table 3, more like $108.4 bil between Medicare ($45.0 bil), Medicaid ($39.6 bil), and other federal programs ($23.8 bil; e.g. Tricare, VA health benefits, etc.). The paper's data set and method of extrapolating portions of healthcare expenditures attributable to smoking does raise an eyebrow at first glance, but I've admittedly not dived deep enough. EDIT: > A major way (the only way?) to curb tobacco usage is to simply increase taxes on tobacco usage... If by curb you mean reducing the number of new adopters proportional to overall population, I agree and would support such a measure. As a former smoker and current smokeless tobacco user myself, I'd say those of us who fell for the trap are fucked six ways from Sunday; as much as I'd like to quit, my mind and body are way too dependent on nicotine to function effectively on a day-to-day basis. I'd need roughly 3 months of leave and a lot of mindless distractions to drop the habit. A significant increase in per-unit cost for no apparent reason (like 2-3x overnight) would probably work too...like a proverbial slap to the face that would incite just enough outrage on the merits to serve as an effective distraction, hopefully for long enough to allow physiological dependencies to permanently fade. [1] https://sci-hub.cc/10.1016/j.amepre.2014.10.012 https://sci-hub.cc/10.1016/j.amepre.2014.10.012