World

How Smokers, Drinkers And The Obese Could Actually Be Saving You Money

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Guy Bentley Research Associate, Reason Foundation
Font Size:

Smokers, drinkers and the obese are often scapegoated for costing taxpayers a fortune in health care bills, but new research suggests these groups actually cost the government significantly less than their healthier peers.

The London-based think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) challenges the conventional wisdom healthier lifestyles lead to lower costs for the government and brings into serious question one of the central policy planks of the public health movement – ever higher sin taxes.

Many health economists and public health officials support higher taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, fatty foods and sugary drinks on the grounds people who get sick because of these products have their medical care paid for by others who made healthier choices.

This is especially true in the United Kingdom, which has a socialized health care system funded through general taxation. According to the IEA report, over the next 50 years, the U.K. will spend an additional five percent of its GDP on health care, old age care and pensions – equivalent to more than $134 billion.

Lifestyle choices are often blamed for the rising cost of medical care, but the report’s Christopher Snowdon points out that “this ignores the costs associated with living a healthy lifestyle for longer such as nursing home and welfare.”

Life expectancy in the U.K. is projected to rise to 87 by the end of the next decade – an increase of six years. People living into their late 80s and early 90s are also for the most part not working, with the working age population shouldering the burden for their needs.

These costs are significant, with the needs of an 85-year-old costing five times more than someone in their 60s and ten times more than someone in their 40s.

In short, more people are living longer with chronic and non-fatal diseases that require costly and extensive medical care. Counterintuitively, while the healthy are costing the government a fortune, the same cannot be said for those who indulge in unhealthy lifestyles.

Snowdon argues, “In the UK, there is little evidence to suggest the obese and drinkers cost more over the course of their lifetime. Smokers’ costs are significantly less than non-smokers.”

Since these groups have a substantially shorter life expectancy, they don’t draw on as much public support in terms of social security and health care. Long-time smokers typically have a life expectancy 10 years shorter than non-smokers.

But, Snowdon adds, if obesity only cuts someone’s life expectancy by one year, the taxpayer will likely come up short.

“Absurd claims have recently been made about obesity bankrupting the NHS. The economic evidence is quite clear that it is the aging population, not obesity, drinking or smoking that is the real threat to public finances,” said Snowdon.

“Instead of using those who lead unhealthy lifestyles as scapegoats, we must accept that healthier living merely postpones the costs of disability and disease, and paves the way for higher costs further down the line.”

The report says that longer lifespans may be socially desirable, but the costs rising life expectancy and healthy lifestyles should be recognized as falling on the taxpayer and non-healthy lifestyles shouldn’t be singled out for blame.

Follow Guy on Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel