Smoking-related illnesses are responsible for the high costs of health in the US. The service providers are left with the burden of meeting the needs of these individuals. With affordable health, smokers do not engage in smoking cessation as they are assured of their health needs. They do not take responsibility for their careless health problems, and as such, they cause both health insurance and government losses. The insurance companies, employers, and the company incur extra health costs because of these issues. The government suffers double loss as it spends on the health of the smokers and loses the productive population. Therefore, to minimize this effect, the government, in collaboration with employers and insurance companies, should increase the costs of health on smokers.
There are two main rationales behind the appropriateness of this decision. First, through the increment of the health costs, the smoking addicts will opt for smoking cessation as the financial implications will weigh them down. Apart from the increased taxes on cigarettes, they will be forced to take responsibility for their actions, and in the end, the healthcare reforms will be gradually achieved. Secondly, the increment of the healthcare costs is fair for the insurance companies as they work on the pooling of funds to meet the health problems of the contributors. Since the smoking conditions require more finances, the addicts should contribute more towards their health. Through this technique, the insurance will not incur losses by paying out more than the contributions of the smokers.
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Markedly, it is ethical to increase the cost of health for smokers. The government, employers, and insurance companies benefit from this particular move. Also, this mechanism enhances the health of smokers, which leads to overall healthcare reformation. Ultimately the welfare of the parties in question is taken into consideration.
Reference
Verguet, S., Gauvreau, C. L., Mishra, S., MacLennan, M., Murphy, S. M., Brouwer, E. D., ... & Jamison, D. T. (2016). The consequences of tobacco tax on household health and finances in rich and poor smokers in China: an extended cost-effectiveness analysis. In Economics of Tobacco Control in China: From Policy Research to Practice (pp. 215-243).
