Health Insurance and the Cost of Smoking

Binning & Dickens sells Health Insurance and smoking is a leading cause of individual health issues.


Costs of Smoking
May 12, 2009
We have known for a long time that smoking is unhealthy. Tobacco imposes a physical and financial cost to smokers, but there is also a physical cost for those exposed to secondhand smoke. We must work together to help people overcome tobacco addiction.

In Wisconsin, 7,300 people die yearly from smoking-related causes. Cigarettes kill more people in the United States than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined. Smoking is responsible for nearly 1-in-5 deaths in the U.S. and if this continues, 128,000 children alive today will die from smoking-related illnesses.

Smoking accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths. It is a major cause of lung, throat, mouth, esophagus, and bladder cancers; it also contributes to the development of cancers of the pancreas, cervix, kidney, stomach, and also some leukemias.

Only about half of smoking-related deaths are from cancer. Smoking is also a major cause of heart disease, aneurysms, bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke, and it makes pneumonia and asthma worse. It has been linked to low birth weight, increased likelihood of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and diseases of nearly every organ system.

Giving up smoking is difficult. Nicotine is additive but it is important to "kick the habit" so you can live a long, healthy life.

Call Binning & Dickens with all of your health insurance questions. 262-473-3930