Quitting smoking can lead to insurance savings - Bills.com News

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Quitting smoking can lead to insurance savings

Monday, Nov 16, 2009
By Lucy Sanderson

One way some consumers may find some debt relief is thorough quitting smoking.

With taxes on cigarettes being high in some areas, smoking has become an expensive habit. Furthermore, smoking can lead to higher insurance rates for people, both because of their increased risk and because of the burden they place on health care costs.

For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that smoking costs the country's healthcare system$96 billion annually and 443,000 people die every year because of the habit. Despite the steep costs for buying cigarettes, a 2008 survey from the CDC shows that 20.6 percent of Americans are smokers, which is not much different from the 20.9 percent who said they were in 2004.

The survey also noted that people who have a lower level of education are more likely to be smokers. Of those polled, 5.7 percent with graduate degrees said they smoke, whereas 41.3 percent of those with only a general education development certificate continue to puff away.

"We need to make the investments so all people receive the same protections and adequate information
to help them quit successfully," Matthew McKenna, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, said.

Along with affecting the price of health insurance, smoking can make it more expensive for people who are trying to get life insurance. A recent report from MSNBC notes that being a smoker has the potential to double life insurance premiums.

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