Study: Lifetime of Smoking Costs the Average Maryland Smoker $5,348,819
Smoking costs us more than $600 billion per year, and the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on The Real Cost of Smoking by State, as well as expert commentary, to help encourage the 46 million tobacco users in the U.S. to kick this dangerous and expensive habit.
WalletHub calculated the potential monetary losses brought on by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke, including the lifetime and annual costs of a pack of cigarettes per day, health care expenditures, income losses and other costs.
The Financial Cost of Smoking in Maryland (1=Highest, 25=Avg.):
- Overall rank for Maryland: 3rd
- Out-of-Pocket Cost per Smoker – $234,242 (Rank: 2nd)
- Financial-Opportunity Cost per Smoker – $3,970,866 (Rank: 2nd)
- Health-Care Cost per Smoker – $276,449 (Rank: 5th)
- Income Loss per Smoker – $850,703 (Rank: 2nd)
- Total Cost Over Lifetime per Smoker: $5,348,819
- Total Cost per Year per Smoker: $111,434
To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/the-
Key takeaways and WalletHub commentary are included below in text and video format.
“Smoking has greatly declined in the U.S. in recent decades, but nearly 50 million people still use tobacco products. Buying cigarettes for your entire adult life can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that number pales in comparison to the hidden costs of smoking. Over a lifetime, smokers lose out on millions of dollars they could have made if they’d invested the money they spent on tobacco. Smokers also tend to have lower wages, higher health care costs and higher home insurance premiums.”
—
“Smoking will cost you the most in New York, where the average smoker will incur a staggering cost of more than $5.4 million over a lifetime. Only around $247,000 of that is the out-of-pocket cost paid for tobacco products, though. The biggest contributor is the financial opportunity cost; spending $247,000 on cigarettes in New York will slash your retirement budget by a whopping $4.2 million, assuming you would have otherwise invested money in the S&P 500. The remaining lifetime costs include $276,000 in health care expenses, $7,800 in increased home insurance premiums and $703,000 in lost income due to smoking issues.”
– Chip Lupo, WalletHub Analyst
Expert Commentary
What are the most effective strategies for quitting smoking? What approaches typically fail?
“The most effective way to quit smoking is to join an established program such as smokefree.gov or other programs to build a plan to quit and then activate by engaging each step. The best success is when both counseling support and nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) are used so that nicotine cravings do not sabotage adherence to the quit plan. The least successful way to quit is by impulse, without support or planning, and relying on sheer willpower.”
Roger T. Anderson, Ph.D. – Professor; Chief, Division of Prevention, Equity and Health Outcomes Research; Associate Director for Population Sciences, UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center
“As a former smoker myself, I can honestly say that it’s not easy to quit smoking and it often takes multiple attempts. Having said that, there are more ex-smokers living in the US today than there are current smokers. In other words, most smokers have successfully quit and stayed quit! The specific way you quit matters less than your desire to quit and your confidence in your ability to do so (self-efficacy). If you are determined to quit and believe you will be successful, most will be. In terms of how you quit, most smokers quit cold turkey and just decide enough is enough. For those who haven’t been able to quit without help, there are a variety of options that include nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), other drugs (e.g., Chantix) that have been shown to be at least as effective as NRT. And, most recently, e-cigarettes have shown promising results in helping smokers quit if used in the proper way. Unfortunately, most smokers who try e-cigarettes to help them quit continue to smoke cigarettes as well (dual use), and, if continued, obviously doesn’t lead to smoking cessation.”
Michael P. Eriksen – Professor; Founding Dean of the School of Public Health, Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University
How can state and local authorities encourage people to quit smoking? Is there a role for employers and/or health insurance companies?
“State and local authorities need to use media campaigns (including social media) to encourage people to quit smoking. Employers should offer smoking cessation programs and counseling. Health insurance companies should provide coverage for smoking cessation.”
Michael Siegel, MD, MPH – Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine
“There’s a role for everyone, and we haven’t done a very good job in advancing a coordinated and comprehensive approach to help people stop smoking. We know that smoke-free policies, high excise taxes, payment for effective cessation programs, restrictions on advertising, all work in helping create an environment that discourages smoking. In addition, there are some bold proposals currently being considered by the White House that would ban menthol from all combustible tobacco products, and another proposal that would lower the nicotine level of combustible cigarettes to non-addictive levels. Both these initiatives could be game-changers, but are hung-up for political, not scientific reasons.”
Michael P. Eriksen – Professor; Founding Dean of the School of Public Health, Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University
Is the climbing popularity of vaping a good thing? Is it a good and safe substitute for regular cigarettes?
“The increase in vaping is an important public health concern. Vaping allows the user to deeply inhale chemicals and substances which can cause lung inflammation and tissue damage. Some vaping ingredients are food flavorings that have never been tested for inhalation. In addition, there is evidence that the vehicle or liquid that is vaporized and inhaled can also be harmful. Thus, while the idea of ‘harm reduction’ by replacing combustible tobacco products with inhaled nicotine from e-cigarettes is attractive, the ability to demonstrate such benefit is very challenging and nuanced. Many people who vape are simply dual users of combustible tobacco and use vaping to satisfy nicotine cravings, rather than to wean from tobacco. Long term vaping can pose significant health risk by itself.”
Roger T. Anderson, Ph.D. – Professor; Chief, Division of Prevention, Equity and Health Outcomes Research; Associate Director for Population Sciences, UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center
“In my opinion, the major value of vaping is to help existing smokers quit smoking. Well-conducted research indicates that properly conducted programs can be effective in smokers quit, as effective as pharmaceutical approaches. If all smokers vaped, instead of smoked, the public health would benefit. It would even benefit more if smokers moved from smoking combustible cigarettes, to vaping, to not using nicotine at all. In other words, rather than switching from smoking to vaping, quitting all use of nicotine would be best for your health…and your wallet!”
Michael P. Eriksen – Professor; Founding Dean of the School of Public Health, Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences, Georgia State University