CIGARETTE-SMOKING AND LIFETIME MEDICAL EXPENDITURES

Lifetime expenditures on medical care for cigarette smokers are higher than for neversmokers. Expenditures increase with the amount smoked and are as much as 47 percent higher for male heavy smokers when discounted at 3 percent. The U.S. population of current and former smokers incurs excess medical expenditures of almost $200 billion every five years. Smokers' excess medical care is largely funded by private health insurance, but other funding sources, private and public, including out-of-pocket payments, Medicare, and Medicaid, share in the burden.