“You're on the verge of losing everything but you don’t understand why”

Re:“You're on the verge of losing everything but you don’t u... by hirundo on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @11:03AM (#16274830)

Certainly the direct costs are huge, probably in the tens of billions of dollars or pounds per year. But it's quite possible that the shortened lifespan saves even more money by lowering spending on the chronic diseases of late life, etc.

<blockquote>However, smokers die some 10 years earlier than nonsmokers, according to the CDC, and those premature deaths provide a savings to Medicare, Social Security, private pensions and other programs.

Vanderbilt University economist Kip Viscusi studied the net costs of smoking-related spending and savings and found that for every pack of cigarettes smoked, the country reaps a net cost savings of 32 cents.</blockquote>

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2009-04-smokers-society-money...

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Re:“You're on the verge of losing everything but you don’t u... by testvox on Wednesday January 31, 2018 @01:29PM (#16276193)

Maybe you should change your earlier statement to "smoking reduces public costs" or something else a little more inclusive. While there is good evidence smoking reduces costs when savings on retirement programs are considered it's less clear that it reduces health expenditures specifically.

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