The Costs of Smoking

Direct Costs

In 1993, the direct health care costs associated with smoking totaled $50 billion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The government paid 43% of these costs through programs like Medicaid and Medicare. The Office of Technology Assessment estimates that the costs of tobacco in lost productivity for the U.S. economy were $47.2 billion in 1990. Even though the life expectancy of smokers if much lower than that of non smokers, over their lifetime, smokers and former smokers cost an estimated $501 billion in additional health care costs. According to the American Cancer Society, each pack of cigarettes sold is costing Americans more than $3.90 in smoking-related expenses.

Costs of Secondhand Smoke

Since 1993, secondhand smoke (breathing the smoke of others' cigarettes) has been listed as a human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Secondhand smoke is responsible for:

• an estimated 3,000 deaths each year from lung cancer in nonsmokers
• an estimated 40,000 deaths from heart disease in nonsmokers
• respiratory problems in nonsmokers that include coughing, chest discomfort, reduced lung function, and phlegm
• 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections (e.g., pneumonia, bronchitis) in children younger than 18 months, up to 5% of whom require hospitalization.
• increasing the number and severity of asthma attacks in about 20% of asthmatic children

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