The Real Cost of Smoking by State

From WalletHub, Jan 17, 2018

Smoking doesn’t just ruin your health. It can also burn a nasty hole through your wallet. Tobacco use accounts for nearly half a million deaths in the U.S. each year and is the leading cause of lung cancer, according to the American Lung Association. Even those around tobacco smokers aren’t safe from its harmful effects. Since 1964, smoking-related illnesses have claimed 20 million lives in the U.S., 2.5 million of which belonged to nonsmokers who developed diseases merely from secondhand-smoke exposure.

However, the economic and societal costs of smoking are just as huge. Every year, Americans spend more than $300 billion, which includes both medical care and lost productivity. Unfortunately, some people will have to pay more depending on the state in which they live.

To encourage the estimated 36.5 million tobacco users in the U.S. to kick the dangerous habit, WalletHub looked into the true per-person cost of smoking in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. They calculated the potential monetary losses — including both the lifetime and annual cost of a cigarette pack per day, health care expenditures, income losses and other costs — brought on by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke….

read … Full Report

Lifetime Cost of Smoking by State

Hawaii

Overall Rank -- 47
Total Cost per Smoker -- $2,067,655
Out-of-Pocket Cost (Rank) -- $167,535 (47)
Financial Opportunity Cost (Rank) –- $1,407,368 (47)
Health-Care Cost per Smoker (Rank) -- $185,243 (36)
Income Loss per Smoker (Rank) -- $293,666 (47)
Other Costs per Smoker (Rank) -- $13,842 (40)

Costs per Year

Hawaii

Overall Rank -- 47

Total Cost per Smoker -- $40,542
Out-of-Pocket Cost (Rank) -- $3,285 (47)
Financial Opportunity Cost (Rank) -- $27,595 (47)
Health-Care Cost per Smoker (Rank) -- $3,632 (36)
Income Loss per Smoker (Rank) -- $5,758 (47)
Other Costs per Smoker (Rank) -- $271 (40) 

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KGI: High price of smoking