The Human Costs of Tobacco Use

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Abstract
The per capita consumption of cigarettes has risen and fallen, depending on particular events ( Figure 3 )69. Deaths from smoking-related illnesses, however, have climbed, possibly reaching a peak or plateau in 19881. Studies70 have placed the costs of smoking for the United States as a whole at a staggering $65 billion in 1985 in terms of health care expenditures and lost productivity, a value that would surely exceed $100 billion in current dollars. The estimated average lifetime medical costs for a smoker exceed those for a nonsmoker by more than $6,00071. This excess is a weighted average of costs incurred by all smokers, whether or not smoking-related illnesses develop. For smokers in whom such illnesses do develop, the personal financial impact is much higher71. The economic effect of smoking has not been overlooked by the life-insurance companies. Time magazine reported72 that even three insurance firms owned by tobacco companies charge smokers nearly double for term life insurance, because smokers are about twice as likely as nonsmokers to die at a given age.

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