The Cost to Society
Everyone agrees that tobacco use is costly for both individuals and healthcare payers. Consider the epidemiologic and economic statistics in the Centers for Disease Control report - Annual Smoking Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Economic Costs - United States, 1995-1999. (1)
- Smoking annually causes approximately 440,000 premature deaths in the United States (including more than 35,000 secondhand smoking-attributable heart disease deaths).
- Smoking causes approximately $157 billion in annual health related economic losses.
- Adult male and female smokers lost an average of 13.2 and 14.5 years of life, respectively, because they smoked.
- Smoking during pregnancy resulted in the death of more than 1,000 infants and led to countless more health complications in infants who survived.
- Cigarette smoking continues to be the principal cause of premature death in the United States.
- Cigarettes impose substantial cost on society. Society's cost per pack for each of the approximately 22 billion packs of cigarettes sold in the U.S. in 1999 was $7.18, which includes $3.45 spent on medical care for diseases attributable to smoking, and productivity losses of $3.73.
(1) Published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) - April 12, 2002
