IMPACT OF SMOKING ON HEALTHCARE COSTS
Running head: IMPACT OF SMOKING ON HEALTHCARE COSTS 1
IMPACT OF SMOKING ON HEALTHCARE COSTS 6
Impact of smoking on healthcare costs
Cherod Jones
American Military University
Impact of smoking on healthcare costs
Introduction
In the world today, smoking is one of the things that trigger a significant number of ailments on people. This is the case because tobacco affects almost all internal body organs gradually compromising their functioning (Stewart, & Wild, 2017). The research claims that continued smoking makes a person susceptible to contract more than one ailment, which becomes hard to treat. Many people who smoke have recurring diseases that are hard to get rid of. Smoking negatively affects the cost of healthcare not only because of triggering ailments but in many other aspects. The purpose of this research paper shall focus on the various ways that smoking impacts healthcare cost.
Body of paper
An overview of the issue
Smoking is a complex health challenge that negatively affects the cost of healthcare in different countries around the world, but mainly the U.S. Smoking-related ailments include; stroke, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, damaged and blocked blood vessels, respiratory infections like emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma. Smoking also plays a vital role in the formation and development of all types of cancer. For instance: bladder, blood (acute myeloid leukemia), cervix, esophagus, colon, and rectum (colorectal), kidney and ureter (Lloyd-Jones et al., 2010). According to some researchers, other cancers caused by smoking are; “larynx, liver, oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils), pancreas, stomach, trachea, bronchus, and lung” (Stewart & Wild, 2017). Meaning, that a majority of healthcare issues addressed in different healthcare facilities emanates from smoking. The challenge is that these ailments are complicated and they need high-quality skills, quality medical equipment, and resources to maintain services. Patients will have to incur the high cost of treatment. Therefore smoking causes an escalation in healthcare cost.
Why is this issue a concern from a health care economics perspective?
Ailments emanating from smoking are complex and requires a significant concern for the healthcare economics. The idea is that high skilled medical professionals need to be paid in a manner that is equivalent to the services they are offering. The tools required to diagnose and test are expensive, making healthcare services providing smoking-related ailments treatment costly. Moreover, the medication for such diseases is too strong and goes through a long and tedious process, which makes it hard to cut on the cost of production. In other cases, some of the diseases require surgeries which are complex and sensitive putting a demand on the number of medical surgeons.
Who are the major parties involved in this issue
· Government as they set laws and environment that either positively or negatively affects the healthcare sector and cost
· Private healthcare facility owners for they play the role of investing in the industry
· Patients as they provide business and receive services from the healthcare sector
· Medical professionals as they are the individuals that directly offers treatment services to smoking-related ailments
· Manufacturers and suppliers as they play the role of manufacturing and making medical equipment and products available and accessible to healthcare facilities and patients
Which market forces have an impact on this issue?
· Demand forces which are on the increase as a result of increasing number of smoking ailments patients
· Supply forces which are lower than demand due to the scarcity of right skills, equipment, and facilities
How is demand illustrated in this issue?
Demand is on the rise as the numbers of patients are increasing overcrowding available healthcare facilities and other suffering from homes without ample medical attention (Folland, Goodman, & Stano, 2016)
How is supply illustrated in this issue?
According to Folland, Goodman, & Stano, (2016); smoking increases the cost of healthcare because the supply of healthcare services needed to address the issue are inadequate and do not meet the available demand.
How has the affordable care act impacted this issue?
The affordable care act has in a way positively impacted the situation. The reason is that it makes healthcare which a majority of people could not afford due to high costs involved to access quality healthcare facility. Nevertheless, the affordable care act has not covered all the people in the U.S. underserving some populations.
How are health disparities demonstrated in this issue?
Smokings’ impact on patients creates a clear picture of how healthcare services are distributed across the U.S. Regions with quality and an adequate number of healthcare services do not report a significant amount of fatalities emanating from smoking-related ailments as compared to areas with an inadequate number of facilities (Vogl, Wenig, Leidl, & Pokhrel, 2012). People in regions with facilities can seek medical attention and advice early and consistently making it possible for ailments to be detected and treated on time. Such a situation is not possible in a region where healthcare facilities are located a long distance from each other as one facility has to attend to a vast population.
How has this issue been improved in other global markets?
In the U.S., the region with adequate and quality healthcare facilities that treat smoking-related ailments receives a significant number of clients from the international market. This further increases demand and rate of revenue generation that has made it possible for the sector to expand and offer high-quality and effective treatment.
Recommendation for making improvements on economic principles basis
· Increasing the number of healthcare facilities in an equitably distributed manner
· Making medical training affordable and of the highest quality to increase the number of professionals
· Reduce the cost of taxation on medical equipment’s, products, and tools both imported and locally manufactured to make them affordable to many healthcare services
Conclusion
Smoking negatively impacts the cost of healthcare by causing cost escalation. Smoking affects all parts of the body thus compromising their operation. This makes a person to suffer from one or two or a multiple of chronic ailments that requires high-standard tests, diagnosis, and treatment (Stoddart, & Evans, 2017). Smoking is also done by many people regardless of their gender and age, and the greater danger is that even non-smokers can get affected by getting second-hand exposure. For instance, a smoking pregnant mother can change the internal and external body organs of the unborn baby and other children in the house who gets to in hail the smoke. The demand for healthcare services addressing smoking-related ailments is high while as the supply of the same services at its lowest. It is for all majors stakeholders to play their roles effectively to resolve the issue amicably and productively.
References
Folland, S., Goodman, A. C., & Stano, M. (2016). The Economics of Health and Health Care: Pearson International Edition. Routledge.
Lloyd-Jones, D., Adams, R. J., Brown, T. M., Carnethon, M., Dai, S., De Simone, G., … & Go, A. (2010). Heart disease and stroke statistics—2010 update. Circulation, 121(7), e46-e215.
Stewart, B. W. K. P., & Wild, C. P. (2017). World cancer report 2014. Health.
Stoddart, G. L., & Evans, R. G. (2017). Producing health, consuming health care. Why are some people healthy and others not? (pp. 27-64). Routledge.
Vogl, M., Wenig, C. M., Leidl, R., & Pokhrel, S. (2012). Smoking and health-related quality of life in English general population: implications for economic evaluations. BMC public health, 12(1), 203.
Week 8 Assignment: Research Paper
Impact of Smoking on Healthcare Cost
Using the topic you selected and the outline you followed in week 3 assignment, please write a 7-10 page research paper using APA Format. Your research paper must include an extensive explanation and have a thesis statement. A thesis statement is a strong statement that you can support with evidence. The research paper should have a abstract, literature review and discussion (body of the paper addressing the issues listed below), recommendation, a well-defined conclusion, and reference pages. You must use at least 5 resources.
Please see the attached template for more information.
In your paper, you must address the following:
An overview of the issue
Why is this issue a concern from a health care economics perspective?
Who are the major parties involved in this issue?
Which market forces have an impact on this issue?
How is demand illustrated in this issue?
How is supply illustrated in this issue?
How has the affordable care act impacted this issue?
How are health disparities demonstrated in this issue?
How has this issue been improved in other global markets?
What is your recommendation for making improvements based on economic principles.