Benefits July 11, 2005

Smoking-Related Productivity Losses put at $92B

July 11, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Lost productivity due to smoking cost the nation about $92 billion between 1997 and 2001 - up sharply from $10 billion smoking price tag for the period 1995 to 1999.
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A news release from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that when combined with US smoking-related health-care costs – which was reported at $75.5 billion in 1998 – the bill ultimately comes in at more than $167 billion annually.

The latest study reports productivity losses from deaths and finds that smoking causes 3.3 million years of potential life lost for men and 2.2 million years for women. Smoking, on average, reduces adult life expectancy by approximately 14 years, the CDC said.

“Cigarette smoking continues to impose substantial health and financial costs on individuals and society,” said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, in the news release. “We’ve made good progress in reducing the number of people who smoke, but we have much more work to do. If we want to significantly reduce the toll in this decade, we must provide the 32 million smokers who say they want to quit with the tools and support to do so successfully.”

For more information about tobacco use and smoking cessation, visit the Office on Smoking and Health Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco .

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