Cost of a Butt: Michigan Smokers Spend Nearly $1.5 Million to Satisfy Habit

Michigan smokers spend nearly $1.5 million over a lifetime to support their habits, according to a new study by the personal-finance website WalletHub released during Tobacco-Free Awareness Week.

In the U.S., the economic and societal costs of smoking-related issues total more than $301 billion a year, and that figure continues to rise. Broken down, the total includes $116.4 billion in direct health-care costs, $67.5 billion in workplace productivity losses and $117.1 billion in early deaths related to smoking.

Overall, Michigan ranks 33rd among U.S. states and Washington D.C. in total smoking costs and 35th for tobacco costs per smoker.

Here’s the breakdown for Michigan:

• Total costs per smoker: $1,492,182
• Tobacco costs per smoker (rank): $1,145, 485 (35)
• Health-care costs per smoker (rank): $143,672 (23)
• Income loss per smoker (rank): $194,995 (18)
• Other costs per smoker (rank): $9,301 (9)

Not all smoking costs are financial, WalletHub said.

Since 1964, smoking-related illnesses have claimed 20 million lives in the U.S., 2.5 million of which belonged to nonsmokers who developed diseases merely from secondhand-smoke exposure.

Also, tobacco use continues accounts for 443,000 premature deaths a year and is the leading cause of lung cancer – men who smoke are 23 times more likely to develop the disease while women smokers are 13 times more likely to do so, according to the American Lung Association.

In light of Tobacco-Free Awareness Week and to encourage the more than 60 million tobacco users in the U.S. to kick the dangerous habit, WalletHub gauged the financial cost of smoking in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. We did so by calculating the potential monetary losses — including the cumulative cost of a cigarette pack per day over several decades, health care expenditures, income losses and other costs — brought on by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.

WalletHub said it gathered data on the costs of smoking in light of Tobacco-Free Awareness Week and to encourage the more than 60 million tobacco users in the U.S. to kick the dangerous habit,

The personal finance website calculated the potential monetary losses – including the cumulative cost of a cigarette pack per day over several decades, health care expenditures, income losses and other costs – brought on by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.

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Photo via Creative Commons