New Study: Washington's Tobacco Prevention Program Saved $1.5 Billion over Ten Years -- Saving Over $5 for Every $1 Spent

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Dec 15, 2011, 04:49 ET

State Leaders Must Restore Funding for Program that Saves Lives and Money

Statement of Matthew L. Myers

President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new study published today by the American Journal of Public Health finds that Washington state's tobacco prevention and cessation program saved the state more than $1.5 billion in health care costs over its first 10 years, saving more than $5 for every $1 spent on the program.

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This study is powerful confirmation that Washington's tobacco prevention program is a smart investment that not only reduces smoking and saves lives, but also saves money for state taxpayers. It shows how penny-wise and pound-foolish state leaders were in virtually eliminating funding for the program this year and why they should act quickly to restore funding for programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. Unless they do so, Washington will pay a very high price with more kids smoking, more lives lost to tobacco and higher tobacco-related health care costs.

The study found that from 2000 to 2009, Washington's tobacco prevention and cessation program saved more than $5 for every $1 spent by reducing hospitalizations for heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and cancer caused by tobacco use. Over the 10-year period, the program prevented nearly 36,000 hospitalizations, saving $1.5 billion compared to $260 million spent on the program. These are real savings in tobacco-related hospitalization costs from 2000 to 2009, not projected savings in future health care costs.

According to the study's authors, the total savings are even greater when other tobacco-related health and productivity costs are included, in addition to the hospitalization costs. The study further found that Washington's smoke-free workplace law and the state's multiple cigarette tax increases also contributed to smoking declines and health care savings.

Washington's tobacco prevention and cessation efforts made the state a national leader in the fight against tobacco, producing far greater reductions in smoking than the nation as a whole. From 2001 to 2009, Washington reduced its adult smoking rate by 34 percent, from 22.6 to 14.9 percent. Nationally, the decline was only 9 percent, from 22.7 to 20.6 percent. Washington also reduced youth smoking rates by half. The Washington State Department of Health has estimated the program has helped prevent 13,000 premature deaths.

Given the program's success in reducing smoking and saving lives, and now the evidence that it also saves huge sums of money, it is inexplicable that state leaders have virtually eliminated funding for tobacco prevention and cessation. According to a report released last month by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other public health organizations, Washington has slashed funding for the program by 97 percent in the past three years, from $27.2 million in 2009 to $13.4 million last year to just $750,000 this year. As a result, Washington now spends just one percent of the $67.3 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Washington this year will collect $620 million in revenue from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend none of it on tobacco prevention programs. The small amount the state is spending on these programs comes from retailer licensing.

We urge Washington's leaders to restore funding for the tobacco prevention and cessation programs so it can continue to protect kids, save lives – and save billions of dollars for taxpayers by reducing tobacco-related health care costs.

The study was published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. An abstract can be found at: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300506. For a copy of the article, please contact Patricia Warin with the American Journal of Public Health at 202-777-2511 or [email protected].

For more information on the report, please contact Julia Dilley, Senior Research Scientist and the lead author of the paper. She can be reached at 360-402-7877.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids