Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Smoking Expenses
In my last post I mentioned trying to keep people healthier so they don't have as many complications and I didn't think about the number one preventable cause for cancer, smoking tobacco. During 2000-2004, cigarette smoking cost around 193 billion dollars in medical expenses. 193 billion dollars that could have been prevented, there is so much talk about health care but sometimes health care only treats the problem after it started where if we could strive to live healthier lives we could prevent the problem from ever occurring. If we were able to provide more and better ways to get over nicotine addiction, than we could cut health care expenses and make people healthier as well.
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That is a very good idea, I believe that would save money compared to paying for medical care of those who get lung cancer. The only problem I see is that not everybody wants to quit smoking. A lot of people enjoy the relaxation that it gives them. The only time that they would have wanted to quit smoking is when they are in the hospital on an oxygen tank. There are some people who really do want to quit, but just cannot.
ReplyDeleteSure, there is 193 billion dollars spent on medical expenses. But, it is the smokers own fault. The smoker is the one that smoked that first cigarette on their own, which led to addiction. If you are trying to get insurance, one of the questions asked is if you are a smoker. If that insurance company does accept you, then you are at high risk to them. So what do they do? they raise how much you pay a month because you are at higher risk. They know how much it costs for somebody who has lung cancer in a hospital. It's their money, let them use it how they see best fit.
That was Ryan Sword that wrote that last comment....
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that if you smoke you have to pay the price. It's a personal choice that people make completely knowing all the consequences. It's dumb for people to smoke all their lives and then when the time comes and they have lung cancer they should be able to get special treatment. You made the mistake in your life, you have to pay for it. I know it is brutal to say, but every person nowadays completely knows every consequence about smoking. Cigarettes are filled with over 1000 different chemicals (drugabuse.com), and people are still filling their lungs with cigarettes every day!
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