Smoking and Health Care Costs

Friday, June 18, 2010

It is expensive to light-up, it is dangerous, and for a lifelong non-smoker it just does not make sense, yet millions still do it. Increasingly, smokers are charged more for their health care coverage, they are being tested by their employers for tobacco use, and in some cases, and they are being directed to a lower level health care coverage option.

As reported in the Winston-Salem Journal by Sarah Morayati, effective January 2011, Winston-Salem city workers will be tested for tobacco use and will only be offered the city's Basic health plan, a lower benefit option plan as opposed to the city's Basic Plus health plan. Faced with a 10 percent increase in its self-insured health care plan; the city is looking for smokers to bear some of the responsibility and a portion of the additional cost.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 46 million people or 20.6% of all adults in the United States smoke cigarettes. Cigarette smoking is more common among men (23.1%) rather than women (18.3%). The CDC reports that cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for approximately 443,000 deaths or 1 of every 5 deaths in the United States each year.

West Virginia 26.6%, Indiana 26.1%, and Kentucky 25.3% have the highest rates of smoking while Utah 9.2%, California 14.0%, and New Jersey 14.8% have the lowest rates. Smoking rates are highest amount African American and lowest among Asians. Although rates of smoking have declined, the prevalence of current cigarette smoking among adults declined from 24.1% in 1998 to 20.6% in 2008. Nevertheless, according to the CDC, smoking accounted for approximately $157 billion in annual health-related economic losses from 1995—1999. The CDC reported that among current adult smokers, 70% reported they wanted to quit completely 40% of all adult smokers attempted to quit at sometime in 2007.

Fortunately, for those who do stop smoking their risk of disease and premature death are greatly reduced:

• Smoking cessation lowers the risk for lung and other types of cancer.

• The risk for developing cancer declines with the number of years of smoking cessation.

• Risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease is reduced.

• Cessation reduces respiratory symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, & shortness of breath.

• Cessation reduces the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

• Women who stop smoking during their reproductive years reduce their risk for infertility.

• Women who stop smoking during pregnancy reduce the risk of having a low birth weight baby.

So why do they continue to smoke?  I guess there are some things that you just cannot fix!