Waubonsee Community College

The price of smoking, Frank A. Sloan [and others]

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-305) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The price of smoking

bibliography

54460987

Frank A. Sloan [and others]

"What does a pack of cigarettes cost a smoker, the smoker's family, and society? This longitudinal study on the private and social costs of smoking calculates that the cost of smoking to a 24-year-old woman smoker is $86,000 over a lifetime; for a 24-year-old male smoker the cost is $183,000. The total social cost of smoking over a lifetime - including both private costs to the smoker and costs imposed on others (including second-hand smoke and costs of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) - comes to $106,000 for a woman and $220,000 for a man. The cost per pack over a lifetime of smoking: almost $40.00." "The first study to quantify the cost of smoking in this way, or in such depth, this accessible book not only adds a weapon to the arsenal of antismoking messages but also provides a framework for assessment that can be applied to other health behaviors. The findings on the effects of smoking on Medicare and Medicaid will be surprising and perhaps controversial, for the authors estimate the costs to be much lower than the damage awards being paid to 46 states as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement."--Jacket

Tabulating the cost of smoking -- Approaches for assessing the cost of smoking -- What we know and don't know about the cost of smoking -- Effects of smoking on mortality -- How much does smoking increase outlays for personal health care? -- Effects of smoking on social security -- Private pensions: do the cross-subsidies mirror those for social security? -- Do nonsmokers cross-subsidize smokers in the market for life insurance? -- Effects of smoking on morbidity, disability, and work loss -- Health effects of smoking on others -- Summing up