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Investing in smoking prevention pays dividend to taxpayers
Educating youth about the dangers of tobacco makes sense from a public-health policy standpoint. But with states facing budget deficits, can they afford to devote to such programs some of the money they won in a settlement with the tobacco industry?
They can’t afford not to, say public health advocates in a recent report by American Legacy Foundation, a national, independent, public health foundation located in Washington, D.C.
For Every Dollar Spent, Double or More the Savings
Every dollar spent on comprehensive anti-smoking education programs is reaping up to $2 in savings in Massachusetts, Maine, and Florida, and nearly $4 in savings in California, according to the foundation’s report, "Saving Lives, Saving Money: Why States Should Invest in a Tobacco-Free Future."
"If you do the right thing from a public health perspective, you’ll also end up saving the taxpayers a ton of money," says Mitchell Zeller, JD, executive vice president of American Legacy Foundation.
The savings come in the form of millions of dollars less in Medicaid payments and other public health costs from smoking-related cancer, heart disease, and other diseases when states invest in comprehensive tobacco-control programs, according to the report.
For example:
* California began a comprehensive program in 1988, and by 2000 had decreased the number of adult smokers by 25%. California saved $3 for every dollar spent on tobacco control.
* By reducing smoking among pregnant women, California reduced the number of low birth-weight babies, resulting in a reduction of $107 million in related health care costs.
* A study in 2000 found that Massachusetts’ comprehensive tobacco control program, begun in 1993, reduced total health care spending in the state by $85 million per year, according to the Legacy Foundation report. That amounts to saving $2 for every dollar spent on tobacco control.
The American Legacy Foundation was created by the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry and 46 states and five US territories. The other four states entered their own settlement. Together, the 50 states will receive a total of up to $246 billion in payments from the tobacco industry through the year 2025.
States Are Spending Less Than Five Percent
But so far, states are spending less than 5% of those payments on tobacco-prevention, Zeller says. Only five states are spending the per-capita amount recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.
States didn’t always have the political will to carry it out. "The tragedy is we know what works," Zeller said.
What works? Zeller says the 12-to 17-year-olds who are at risk and "open" to smoking respond best to anti-smoking ad campaigns that are aggressive, edgy, confrontational and in-your-face, but don’t preach. This approach breaks through "all the clutter" of other media that bombard youth.
Even though smoking is the number-one preventable cause of disease, and it’s obvious that public policy ought to support such prevention, Zeller said, it takes an economic argument to create the political will to take action.
Ron Todd, MSEd, director of tobacco control for the American Cancer Society, said the challenge to public health advocates is to reach politicians with the convincing truth.
"The sad fact is that most of the education that politicians receive regarding tobacco issues is done by tobacco companies and their lobbyists, not by the public health community," said Todd.
"Tobacco companies have more money, which often means more access and influence politically," said Todd. "Hopefully, eventually, politicians will be able to see through the tobacco industry propaganda and do what’s necessary to end the tobacco pandemic.
"Until then, the public health community must continue to take advantage of every opportunity to inform both the public and political bodies of the tremendous health and economic toll cause by tobacco use," Todd said.
About the author:
http://www.cancer.org
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