Background
Fifty years after the first Surgeon General’s report, tobacco use remains the nation’s
leading preventable cause of death and disease, despite declines in adult cigarette
smoking prevalence. Smoking-attributable healthcare spending is an important part
of overall smoking-attributable costs in the U.S.
Purpose
To update annual smoking-attributable healthcare spending in the U.S. and provide
smoking-attributable healthcare spending estimates by payer (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid,
private insurance) or type of medical services.
Methods
Analyses used data from the 2006–2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey linked to the
2004–2009 National Health Interview Survey. Estimates from two-part models were combined
to predict the share of annual healthcare spending that could be attributable to cigarette
smoking. The analysis was conducted in 2013.
Results
By 2010, 8.7% (95% CI=6.8%, 11.2%) of annual healthcare spending in the U.S. could
be attributed to cigarette smoking, amounting to as much as $170 billion per year.
More than 60% of the attributable spending was paid by public programs, including
Medicare, other federally sponsored programs, or Medicaid.
Conclusions
These findings indicate that comprehensive tobacco control programs and policies are
still needed to continue progress toward ending the tobacco epidemic in the U.S. 50
years after the release of the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: December 09, 2014
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc.
