Smokers could be required to quit in exchange for NHS rights

[debbie t]

this pisses me off.

the nhs would collapse without all the tax the government gets from alcohol and tobacco

 

[SRC]

Actually it probably wouldn't .. if people weren't buying as much liquor and/or tobacco .. they wouldn't be paying out as much on health care .. because people wouldn't get sick or have terminal illnesses as much. :dunno:

 

[GraceAbounds]

Actually it probably wouldn't .. if people weren't buying as much liquor and/or tobacco .. they wouldn't be paying out as much on health care .. because people wouldn't get sick or have terminal illnesses as much. :dunno:

too true

 

[Peter Parka]

Actually it probably wouldn't .. if people weren't buying as much liquor and/or tobacco .. they wouldn't be paying out as much on health care .. because people wouldn't get sick or have terminal illnesses as much. :dunno:

Wrong, tax on alcohol and tobacco more than covers the annual health cost alone.

 

[debbie t]

Wrong, tax on alcohol and tobacco more than covers the annual health cost alone.

proven and debated on question time i believe pete.
the government are actually worried about the loss of tax revenue if we all pack in the fags and stop binge drinking.

funny world we live in

 

[Peter Parka]

Like to know I'm doing my bit to support cancer, heart and other innocent patients ect by smoking and drinking!

 

[skyblue]

Right, but that's why y'alls tax rate is crazy high! it's like a 20% sales tax or something, right?

no......its so high so a very small country can compete with huge countries....

and then we have to fund our afghan and iraq efforts....then we have to pay for indias education system.....then we have to fund the sudan......theres hundreds of reasons

 

[SRC]

Really .. so 1 patient with lung cancer hospital bills/ medication bills for a year (much less 50,000 +) .. isn't gonna be more than a year of tobacco taxes?

I think you need to check on how much a hospital bill/medications (for the insurance company) is worth; because I think you are sadly mistaken.

I am quoting an article for US citizens, but somehow doubt it's much less for British and/or Canadian citizens, seeing how they have a great populations also.

Chronic illnesses account for 70% of deaths and for the expenditure of over 75% of direct health care costs in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1). Direct costs are now estimated at over $1.5 trillion (2). Indirect costs of chronic diseases, in the form of lost productivity and nonreimbursed personal costs, add several more hundreds of billions of dollars each year. In a landmark study published in 1996, Hoffman et al (3) reported that in 1990 90 million people in the United States lived with a chronic disease or condition and 39 million people had more than one such condition. Extrapolating from these and other data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that as many as 25 million Americans have a chronic condition that is disabling (1). Although the literature does not support a single uniform definition for chronic disease, recurrent themes include the non–self-limited nature, the association with persistent and recurring health problems, and a duration measured in months and years, not days and weeks (3,4).
Prevalence and Costs of Chronic Disease in a Health Care System Structured for Treatment of Acute Illness -- Thrall 235 (1): 9 -- Radiology

The financial costs of lung cancer are high. A recent study estimated that the cost of treating lung cancer in the United States in 1996 (imagine now in 2008 what these costs are) was about $5 billion per year. This made it one of the most expensive cancers to treat in the country.

Cancer - Cost of Lung Cancer

Lung Disease Data at a Glance: Lung Cancer

• Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths for both men and women. An estimated 213,380 new cases of lung cancer and an estimated 160,390 deaths from lung cancer are expected to occur in the United States in 2007.
• Direct medical cost for treatment of lung cancer is approximately $5 billion annually.
• Smoking is responsible for 90 percent of lung cancer cases.

Lung Disease Data at a Glance: Lung Cancer - American Lung Association site

now .. do you REALLY think the tobacco tax covers this? This is just lung cancer treatments .. it doesn't cover all the other ailments smokers have and/or get. :confused Then you have the other people who get sick .. where does the money for them come from if it's all going to people who have smoked and gotten lung cancer? It's not really fair to people who take care of themselves but find themselves ill imo.

 

[debbie t]

the tax we pay could feed the whole bloody world and cover their hospital costs.

 

[skyblue]

SRC....our hospitals run on a budget......thats why we always have waiting lists for treatment......believe me when i say that most of what gets paid into health care over here doesn't go into it.......if it did britain would have the best health service in the world

 

[Peter Parka]

now .. do you REALLY think the tobacco tax covers this? This is just lung cancer treatments .. it doesn't cover all the other ailments smokers have and/or get. :confused

No the tobacco tax dosent, the alcohol and tobacco tax combined does though. Just imagine how much more tax the government could bring in if they legalised cannabis too! Then again, the'd probably be more concerned with pissing it away in Iraq!

 

[debbie t]

both brit boys..absolutely:clap

 

[SRC]

Then you have the other people who get sick .. where does the money for them come from if it's all going to people who have smoked and gotten lung cancer? It's not really fair to people who take care of themselves but find themselves ill imo.

:confused

Healthcare is expensive .. I don't care if you pay 50% tax .. it doesn't ALL go to healthcare .. other things need attention to. But a LOT of tax is going to healthcare .. and a vast majority of it is because people smoke.

The smokers make the tax higher .. because more money has to go into the healthcare system to buffer the cost of treating tobacco related illness.

 

[skyblue]

:confused

Healthcare is expensive .. I don't care if you pay 50% tax .. it doesn't ALL go to healthcare .. other things need attention to. But a LOT of tax is going to healthcare .. and a vast majority of it is because people smoke.

The smokers make the tax higher .. because more money has to go into the healthcare system to buffer the cost of treating tobacco related illness.

not being funny but do you actually realise how heavily taxed we are?

 

[gLing]

not being funny but do you actually realise how heavily taxed we are?

You folks pay some kind of radio tax right? How is the enforced?

 

[Peter Parka]

It really is no exageration that this country would go bankrupt if they made alcohol illegal!

 

[Peter Parka]

You folks pay some kind of radio tax right? How is the enforced?

We don't pay a radio license but we do pay a tv license which is over £130 ($260) a year. This is enforced by detector vans who go round. This is hopefully being abolished in a few years though.

 

[SRC]

Sure I do, but do you realize how much I pay, on top of being taxed, for healthcare? We aren't light on the taxing over here. It might not be as much as yours, but it's a substantially healthy amount coming out of my paycheck each time I get a check. Ours is only lower because we don't have healthcare added into it.

You aren't paying out anymore than I am a month. I pay a shitload of money a month for health insurance ($200+) .. and I'm only paying for myself (single coverage) .. if I add my son or a spouse (family coverage) to my healthcare .. it more than triples a month. My mom pays $975 a month for family healthcare; that's on top of the taxes we pay.

 

[Peter Parka]

Sure I do, but do you realize how much I pay, on top of being taxed, for healthcare? We aren't light on the taxing over here. It might not be as much as yours, but it's a substantially healthy amount coming out of my paycheck each time I get a check. Ours is only lower because we don't have healthcare added into it.

You aren't paying out anymore than I am a month. I pay a shitload of money a month for health insurance ($200+) .. and I'm only paying for myself (single coverage) .. if I add my son or a spouse (family coverage) to my healthcare .. it more than triples a month. My mom pays $975 a month for family healthcare; that's on top of the taxes we pay.

Which is why your health care is better. Unfortunately our government gives greater priority to bombing the shit of Iraq and other things which is bad. The fact remains though that alcohol and tobacco tax more than covers the entire cost of the NHS.

 

[SRC]

I don't believe that, but we'll have to agree to disagree. Healthcare is superbly expensive. The 5 billion reported is for lung cancer alone, add into that other cancers .. and it more than triples itself.

Then add in all the terminal illnesses that children come down with .. and figure that in to the equation. It's astronomical.