The Real Cost of Smoking

Sure a pack of cigarettes these days could buy your dinner.

But the cost of smoking is often much higher than most people think. Between direct and indirect costs, smoking is incredibly expensive—it affects your bank account, health insurance rates, appearance and relationships. While some of these factors may seem obvious, the impact of other costs may not surface for some time.

Health costs

Smoking remains a leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., where it is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year, including nearly 42,000 deaths from secondhand smoke exposure. Current studies estimate that half of all people who continue to smoke will die from a smoking-related illness and will die on average of approximately 10 years sooner than people who do not smoke.

The total economic cost of smoking in the U.S. is estimated at over $300 billion a year. This includes nearly $170 billion in direct medical care for adults and more than $156 billion in lost productivity due to premature death and exposure to secondhand smoke. In fact, for every pack of cigarettes you buy, you end up paying about $35 or more in health-related costs.

Individual financial costs

The long-term financial effect of using tobacco is sometimes hard to comprehend. It is much more than the cost of a pack or two of cigarettes a day. Consider your savings or retirement accounts. Cigarettes have an average cost of $5.51 per pack. (Note that this is the average price across all states, but the actual cost varies greatly. For instance, the most expensive cigarettes cost $12.85 in New York.) If you smoke one pack a day at $5.51 a pack, you spend over $2,000 a year on cigarettes. That is over $2,000 a year you could save or invest. With interest, that can significantly improve your retirement account or pay down debt a lot sooner.

Health insurance premiums also increase if you're a smoker. To account for tobacco users' excess health care costs and encourage smoking cessation, health insurance companies can impose a surcharge on tobacco users' premiums.

Other insurance premiums, for home and car insurance companies, are also higher for smokers. There's a lot of information showing smokers get into more accidents than non-smokers (which is thought to be because smokers are trying to light their cigarettes while driving or due to dropping a lit cigarette).

There's also evidence that the risk of house fires increases when people smoke. The National Fire Protection Association estimated that on average, 5% of reported home fires were started by smoking materials—which caused 590 deaths,1,130 injuries and $476 million in direct property damage per year (during 2012–2016).

Additional doctor visits are common for smokers. Between increased colds, lung infections, breathing problems, emergency room visits and dental care, smokers can end up paying a lot more trying to stay healthy every year.

Health risks beyond chronic diseases

Smoking adversely affects you in many ways. For example, smoking:

• Can hurt physical fitness.
• Causes coughing and hinders lung functioning, including causing shortness of breath. This can lead to permanent lung damage.
• Is associated with use of alcohol and marijuana, and other risky behaviors.

Social costs

It's well known that smoking and using tobacco takes a huge cut from your wallet and bank accounts, but it can also affect your social life. Between stained teeth, yellow fingers, bad breath and wrinkles, smoking can affect your appearance. (Some of these things occur as we get older as a result of what we eat and drink as well as sun exposure, but smoking makes these signs of premature aging come on a lot faster.)

Smoking and using tobacco can also affect your relationships with your friends and family. Most people who don't smoke find it unpleasant to spend time with smokers. Between the smell of smoke and frequent smoking breaks, relationships can be greatly affected by your choice to smoke.

Hidden costs

Third-hand smoke is real. Third-hand smoke is basically build-up from nicotine and other chemicals in cigarettes that are left on indoor surfaces, including inside your car. Unlike secondhand smoke, third-hand smoke doesn't go away by airing out the area since it sticks to hair, clothes, bedding, walls and even non-smoking areas of the home. Third-hand smoke increases the risk of health problems for those who smoke and those who don't.

Resale and other costs. Additional hidden costs of smoking can include the resale value of your home and car. These items may sell for less due to the lingering smells and residue from secondhand and third-hand smoke. Smoking can also make it more difficult to grow your family due to the increased risk of erectile dysfunction and infertility. These and the other costs are very specific, personal and expensive. And, most importantly, they are all great reasons to quit smoking or using tobacco today.

If you or someone you care about wants to quit smoking, health care providers at the In-Store Clinics and MDLive are on hand to support you in your plans to be tobacco-free from cigarettes or other forms of tobacco. There are additional educational materials available in the Walgreens Answer Centers on walgreens.com to support you as well.

Updated on August 12, 2019

Sources:

Hall, W., & Doran, C. (2016). How Much Can the USA Reduce Health Care Costs by Reducing Smoking?. PLoS medicine, 13(5), e1002021. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002021

Prices of cigarettes by state. https://fairreporters.net/health/prices-of-cigarettes-by-state/ Retrieved 5/29/2019

Friedman, A. S., Schpero, W. L., & Busch, S. H. (2016). Evidence Suggests That The ACA's Tobacco Surcharges Reduced Insurance Take-Up And Did Not Increase Smoking Cessation. Health affairs (Project Hope), 35(7), 1176–1183. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2015.1540

"Tobacco: The True Cost of Smoking," American Cancer Society. Web. 7 June 2019. https://m.cancer.org/research/infographicgallery/index

"The Real Cost," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Web. 7 June 2019. https://therealcost.betobaccofree.hhs.gov/costs/health-costs/index.html?feature-can_you_afford

"Quitting Smoking," The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 7 June 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/cessation/quitting/

"What is thirdhand smoke and why is it a concern?" Mayo Clinic. Web. 7 June 2019. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/third-hand-smoke/faq-20057791

"Home Fires Started by Smoking" Web. 16 July 2019. National Fire Protections Association. https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/US-Fire-Problem/Smoking-Materials