US researchers Revealing medical expenses from smoking e-cigarettes are as high as 500 billion baht per year, higher than the income from e-cigarette tax that is only 300 million baht. On average, people who smoke e-cigarettes have more than 70,000 baht per person for health expenditures.
On June 10, 2022, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ruengruedi Patanavanich, Lecturer, Department of Community Medicine Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital Revealed new research from the United States. by economic researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, recently published May 23, 2022 in Tobacco Control, the world’s leading journal on tobacco control. Medical expenses required for medical treatment of e-cigarette patients 18 years of age or older in the United States.
Using data from the 2015-2018 National Health Interview Survey data of nearly 120,000 people, the researchers divided the study into two phases: the health effects study of e-cigarettes. and calculating the costs required to treat these health problems.
“The study found that The cost of medical care for e-smokers is up to $15 billion per year (approximately 500 billion baht), divided into the e-cigarette-only group, $1.3 billion (regarding 40 thousand). million), and those who smoked electronic cigarettes with other tobacco products, which were found to be 17.5 times more than those who smoked e-cigarettes alone, 13 billion USD (regarding 400 billion baht)” Assoc. Ruengruedee said
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ruengruedi further said that E-cigarettes are bad for your health. risk of cardiovascular disease Lung and respiratory disease infectious disease and cancer By comparing the numbers calculated from this research. with the tax figures collected on e-cigarettes in the US must be considered incomparable. Because the data showed that the US electronic cigarette tax Collected no more than $10 million per year (approximately 300 million baht), which means that the loss from e-cigarettes is 1,500 times higher than the tax to be collected. The lifting of the e-cigarette ban in Thailand will allow the government to collect more income from the e-cigarette tax. It’s just a metaphorical claim. It is not worth the loss that will occur in terms of health, economic and social impacts, especially for children and youth who do not know the marketing strategy of e-cigarettes.
Dr Wendy Max, head of the research team, said: This estimate of the cost of medical treatment for e-smokers may be underestimated because it does not include e-smokers under the age of 18, a group with high e-cigarette rates. much in the US from the case of the e-cigarette epidemic among high school children However, the calculated loss figure is considered very high. This means that each smoker will have an additional $2,024 per year in health expenditures (almost 70,000 baht).
refer
Healthcare utilisation and expenditures attributable to current e-cigarette use among US adults: https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2022/05/04/tobaccocontrol-2021-057058
E-Cigarette & Vaping Product Taxes: https://www.ncsl.org/research/fiscal-policy/electronic-cigarette-taxation.aspx
