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Medical Care Expenditures Attributable to Cigarette Smoking---United States, 1993
The July 8, 1994, issue of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
contains the article, "Medical care expenditures attributable to cigarette smoking -
United States, 1993." The study found that smoking-related disease in the United
States has an enormous economic impact. In 1993, it is estimated that the direct medical
costs associated with smoking totaled $50 billion. For each of the 24 billion packs of
cigarettes sold in the United States in 1993, about $2.00 was spent on avoidable medical
care costs due to smoking.
The study also found the following:
- Smoking is responsible for approximately 7 percent of total U.S. health care
costs.
- Federal and state funds pay more than 43 percent ($0.89 of the $2.06 per pack
expenditure) of all smoking-attributable medical care expenditures.
- In 1993, hospital expenditures accounted for 54 percent ($27 billion)
of all smoking-related medical costs. Other costs were for physician
expenses (31%), nursing home expenses (10%), prescription drug charges
(4%), and home health costs (2%).
The $50 billion figure is most likely conservative
because the medical costs attributable to burn care from smoking-related fires, perinatal
care for low birthweight infants of mothers who smoke, and treatment of disease caused by
secondhand smoke exposure were not included in the calculation. Also, the study does not
consider indirect costs of smoking resulting from lost productivity and early death. The
study found higher smoking-attributable direct medical costs for 1990 than were previously
reported by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). This difference is the result of
comparing actual medical care expenditures reported in the new study to the self-reported
frequency of medical care services used in the OTA estimates.
In recent years smoking-related medical costs have
escalated considerably. These costs can be diminished only by reducing the number of
smokers in the United States -- by helping smokers to quit and encouraging young people to
never begin using tobacco products. Research has shown that one effective method to reduce
the demand for tobacco products, particularly among youths, is to raise the price through
an increase in excise taxes.
Medical-Care Expenditures
Attributable to Cigarette Smoking--United States, 1993. 43(26);469-472,
July 08, 1994
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