Open AccessFinancing Smoking Related Illness and Smoking Cessation in the United States: Can it be Done?
Author(s) -
Thomas G. Parish
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the internet journal of allied health sciences and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1540-580X
DOI - 10.46743/1540-580x/2004.1036
Subject(s) - smoking cessation , private insurance , incentive , government (linguistics) , intervention (counseling) , medicine , productivity , quit smoking , business , family medicine , environmental health , health insurance , health care , economic growth , psychiatry , economics , linguistics , philosophy , pathology , microeconomics
A review of the literature was undertaken, exploring the tremendous economic burden that cigarette smoking places on the United States. The cost of medical care and lost productivity related to smoking is conservatively estimated to be $150 billion. These costs to smokers and non-smokers alike are funded at the state and national levels. The literature supports the idea that the single most important barrier to smoking cessation is the cost of medications and smoking cessation programs. In this article, it is proposed that millions of smokers could be assisted to quit by federal government intervention alone. A federal tax on cigarettes could fund smoking cessation in federal insurance programs and provide incentives for private insurers to do the same.