MA Smokers Cost $2 Million Each to Smoke Over Lifetime

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Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Patrick Sargent, GoLocal Worcester Contributor

Smokers in Masschusetts pay nearly $2 million in tobacco costs, heatlhcare costs and income loss to feed their smoking habits. According to a study by Wallethub, is the fourth most expensive place to smoke in the country among all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

According to the American Lung Association, across the United States, tobacco kills 480,000 people a year, and another 16 million Americans are living with a tobacco-caused disease. Economic costs of smoking are more than $300 billion, which includes both heatlhcare costs and loss of income.

SEE MAP BELOW: Where Does MA Rank Against Other States?

When ranking the states and estimating the total cost of smoking in each state, Wallethub calculated the cost of a cigarette pack per day, health care costs, income losses and miscellaneous costs for an 18-year-old person with a lifespan of 51 years. The average a smoker dies is 69.

In tobacco costs alone, Massachusetts smokers pay out nearly $1.5 million during their lifetime. Additionally, smokers from the Commonwealth spend $240,000 on health insurance costs (50th in U.S.) and lose almost $270,000 (45th in U.S.) in income due to their smoking habits. 

Among New England states, Massachusetts finished ahead of only Connecticut (#50) and just behind Rhode Island (#47). Vermont (#43), New Hampshire (#41) and Maine (#38) all finished in the lower-third of the rankings as well.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Health, "The percentage of adult cigarette smokers in Massachusetts is 16.4%... This ranks Massachusetts as the 7th lowest in the U.S. About 840,000 Massachusetts residents are current smokers. Smoking rates are highest among people with mental illness, low socio-economic groups, people with disabilities, and the LGBT community."

The Mass DOH also states that the number of packs of cigarettes sold in the state decreased by 59% between FY 1992 and FY 2013. Cigarette sales decreased annually by 4.5%, while state excise tax revnue from cigarettes rose by 5.8% annually.

MA Gets an "F" in Tobacco Prevention

Massachusetts has received an "F" grade for Tobacco Prevention from the American Lung Association as part of its "State of Tobacco 2015" report. The Commonwealth also received a "D" grade in Access to Cessation Services. In better news, Massachusetts received an "A" grade in both Smoke-Free Air and Tobacco Taxes. 

According to American Lung Association of Massachusetts, these grades can be improved upon if elected officials take the following steps:

• Increase funding for the state's tobacco control program to $9 million per year
• Include e-cigarettes and all other tobacco derived products as part of the state's definition of tobacco products
• Increase access to cessation treatments through comprehensive cessation coverage

 

TOBACCO COST PER STATE:

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