How Costly Are Smokers to Other People? Longitudinal Evidence on the Near Elderly

This study looks at the impact that smoking has on people over the course of time. Data and studies on the costs of smoking, not just for the smoker but for people around them, are very important for many issues. People aged 51-67 are used since that is the time frame where health problems caused by smoking tend to be most prominent. The researchers calculate the costs from healthcare based on the type of insurer. In the end it is concluded that government payers and then Medicare and Medicaid take the largest amount of the financial problem for smoking. Private insurance companies did not seem to take on a great deal of the costs from this behavior.