Tobacco Documents Online

PRN 9:05 CDC PUTS HEALTH CARE COSTS OF SMOKING AT $50 BILIyION FOR COALITION CALLS FOR ACTION ON TOBACCO TAX /ADVANCE/ WASHINGTON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The direct health costs of smoking are more than twice as high as previously publish estimates, according to new data released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Lung Association, united as the Coalit~o on Smoking OR Health, cited the new data as the strongest evidence ye that a major tobacco tax increase is good economic policy as well as good health policy. "As we debate health care reform, we must face the fact that direct health care costs of treating tobacco-related disease each year total $50 billion," said Kerrie B.. Wilson, a spokesperson for the coalition and national vice president for government relations for the American Cancer Society. Following the House and Senate committee votes in recent weeks, proposals to raise the federal excise tax on cigarettes and tobacco products range from 45 cents to $1.76 per pack. "Each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States represents more than $2.00 in hidden medical costs," according to two of the report's lead authors, Dorothy P. Rice, M.D., M.P.H., professor at the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco's School of Nursing, and Thomas E. Novotny, assistant dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. "These estimates help policy makers and the public understand the huge economic burden of cigarette smoking." The authors note that their estimates significantly understate the total cost of tobacco use because they do not include estimates of lost productivity due to tobacco use, prenatal effects on a developing fetus, or illness due to secondhand smoke. The Office of Technology Assessment, a research arm of Congress, estimated that lost productivity caused by smoking cost the U.S. economy $47 billion in 1990. "The total direct and indirect cost of smoking, adjusted to 1994 dollars, is certainly greater than $100 billion once this new data is factored said Wilson. Significantly, the new study found that 43 percent of the $50 billion total (about $22 billion) is paid for by public funds. in,° These new health care cost figures led the report's authors to say that the Coalition's $2 per-pack tax increase proposal is closer to what is needed to offset the direct economic burden tobacco imposes on our health care system.,' By contrast, the recent House Ways and Means Committee proposal would increase the tax by only 15 cents in its first year and by only 45 cents over a five year period. The newly released study is the most comprehensive and most detailed study ever conducted on this subject. The authors based their analysis on recently released data collected on the National Medical Expenditures Survey, conducted in 1987-88 for the U. S. Public Health Service. That data includes rigorous reporting of actual medical care among 35,000 Americans in a 16-month period. The authors adjusted for potentially confounding variables such~as access to health care, socioeconomic status, risk behaviors other than smoking and pre-existing medical conditions, among others. The results of this analysis were published today

ti Morbidity/Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors found that tobacco use is responsible for about 7 percent of total U.S. health care costs. The analysis covers direct expenditures in five categories: ambulatory care, prescription medications, hospitalization, home health care and nursing home care. Of the five, hospital expenses account for 54 percent of costs. The Coalition on Smoking OR Health was formed in 1982 by the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association to more effectively inform federal legislators and other public officials about the health consequences of tobacco use. Combined, these three health organizations represent more than 6 million volunteers throughout the United States. -0- 7/7/94/1700 /CONTACT: John Bloom of the American Cancer Society, 202-546-4011; Joe Marx of the American Heart Association, 202-822-9380; or Diane Maple of the American Lung Association, 202-785-3355/ CO: Coalition on Smoking OR Health; American Cancer Society; American Heart Association; American Lung Association ST: District of Columbia IN: HEA SU: IH-DS -- DC006 -- 3182 Q7/07/94 08:49 EDT -0- (PRN) Jul/07/94 8:50 EOS (PRN) Jul/0"7/94 08:50 86 -0- (PRN) Jul/07/94 9:05