Nursing

COST OF TOBACCO PREVENTION

- Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death and disease, causing approximately 400,000 deaths annually and costing more than $180 billion in health care bills and lost productivity each year in the United States. Smoking is a major risk factor for cancer, heart and lung disease. For every one person who dies of a smoking attributable disease, there are 20 more people who are suffering with at least one serious illness from smoking.

- Healthy People 2010 objectives strive to eliminate health disparities and reduce the burden of disease among all population groups. Disparities clearly exist among population groups related to tobacco use.

- One of the national health objectives for 2010 is to provide coverage by Medicaid in 50 states for nicotine- dependence treatment.

- The first step in eliminating these disparities is to identify which groups are experiencing a high burden of disease, an increase in tobacco use, or difficulty in accessing tobacco control programs.

- Many people experience decreased quality of life due to the adverse health consequences of tobacco use and society will ultimately bear substantial direct and indirect economic costs from these diseases.

- Future changes in the direction of smoking Ð'-attributable cost will depend on investment in tobacco control. Without efforts to reduce rates of tobacco use, healthcare costs related to tobacco will continue to rise.

- In the current budget year (2006), the states combined have allocated $551 million for tobacco prevention programs. Compare this to the 15.4 billion annually, or $42 million a day tobacco companies are spending on marketing there products. This means that tobacco companies spend more on marketing in a single day than 47 states spend on tobacco prevention in an entire year.

- 1.6 billion is needed for every state to fund prevention programs at the CDC minimum levels.

- Evidence shows that prevention programs work, and states mat save as much as three dollars in smoking caused health costs for every dollar spent on tobacco prevention programs

- The multi state tobacco settlement, signed by 46 states and the major tobacco companies requires the tobacco companies to make annual payments to the states as reimbursements for health care costs related to tobacco use. Payments are estimated to total $246 billion over the first 25 years.

COST OF HEALTHCARE, MEDICAID, MEDICARE & LOST PRODUCTIVITY

- Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car accidents, illegal murders, and

suicides combined. Thousands more die each year of chewing tobacco. Of the

roughly 750,000 kids who become new regular daily smokers each year, almost a

third will ultimately die from it. In addition, smokers lose an average of 13 to 14

years of life because of their smoking

- Cigarette smoking accounts for 8 percent of all health care spending in the United

States.

- In 2000, of approximately 32 million persons who received health insurance through Medicaid programs, an estimated 11.5(36%) smoked

- Total annual public and private health care expenditures caused by smoking equals $89 billion

- Annual Federal and state government smoking caused Medicaid payments equal about $28.4 billion a year

- Federal government smoking caused Medicare expenditures each year is about $24.9 billion

- Other federal government tobacco caused healthcare costs equals $8.7 billion

- Annual health care expenditures solely from second hand smoke exposure is $4.98 billion. Additional smoking caused health costs caused by tobacco use include annual expenditures for health and developmental problems of infants and children caused by mothers smoking or being exposed to second hand smoke during pregnancy or by kids exposed to parents smoking after birth. Also not included in the above estimates are costs from smokeless tobacco, adult secondhand smoke exposure, or pipe/cigar smoking.

- It has been estimated that people under universal health insurance that have never smoked will pay $55 billion toward the health care costs of smoking

- Taxpayers yearly fed/state tax burden from smoking caused government spending equals about 64 billion or $596 per household

- The death and disease caused by smoking results in a loss of American productivity. According to the CDC the death toll from smoking caused an annual loss of 1.1 million person years of life before the age of 65, this has macro economic effects.

- This estimate also can be translated to an estimated $14 billion loss of income taxes that may have been used to pay for national defense, environmental protection, drug enforcement, crime control, and other needed federal services.

- Several studies have also shown that smokers not only take more time off work but are also less productive when they are working.

- Smokers are absent from work 50% more than nonsmokers, they are 50% more likely to be hospitalized, and have 15% higher disability rates.

- Employees who take four 10 minute smoking breaks a day actually work one month less per year than workers who don't take smoking breaks.

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