MIAMI.- Smoking is not only harmful to your healthsince it affects almost every organ in the body and causes almost a million deaths annually in the United States, but causes a big hit to the pocketaccording to a report recently published by personal finance website WalletHub.
The study estimated potential monetary losses, including the annual and lifetime costs of a pack of cigarettes per day, health care expenses, lost income and other fees, caused by smoking and exposure to secondhand smokein all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
This, in order to determine the real cost of smoking by state and encourage more than 28.3 million US smokers to stop this habit, which can cause lung and oral cancer, cardiovascular accidents, vision problems and macular degeneration, among others.
The consequences of smoking are truly alarming. Since 1964, smoking-related diseases have been the cause of more than 20 million deaths in the United StatesOf the 2.5 million, those were non-smokers who were exposed to secondhand smoke, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
In addition, it also has a high economic and social cost for consumers. Smoking cost the country more than 600 billion dollars by 2018, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This includes health care expenses, lost productivity due to smoking-related illnesses and health conditions, and premature death in smokers and people exposed to smoke.
What is the real cost of smoking in Florida?
According to this report, the cost of smoking in Florida reaches the figure of $70,232 per year per person y $3,371,124 over a lifetime. Additionally, it has an out-of-pocket cost per smoker of $138,934, a health care expense of $204,155, a financial opportunity cost of $2,474,749, and a loss of income of $533,752.
“Smoking is not only bad for your health. It can also burn a gigantic hole in your wallet, which could cause you to lose millions of dollars throughout your life in the most expensive states,” highlights the analyst from WalletHubCassandra Happe.
He highlights that, although tobacco products are expensive, Most of the money smokers lose comes from lost income and investments. Also, from the increase in health care costs and home insurance premiums.
“Some people may not be as influenced by investment loss predictions as they are theoretical to some extent. But the annual costs of lost income and medical expenses are very real,” he emphasized.
@ebritop22
Source: With information from WalletHub
