Quote:
Originally Posted by kane
So if I read that correctly it is saying that the average cost per person is higher for smokers, but when you group smokers into one group and non-smokers into another it shows that the non-smokers end up costing more total dollars.
Is that correct?
If so couldn't that simply be because there are more non-smokers than smokers? Sure all of the smokers combined cost less than all of the non-smokers combined, but what is the difference in population size?
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The graph shows what it would be like if the entire male population did or didn't smoke.
Average cost per person
if the person is alive is higher for smokers. But smokers die younger. So, at later ages (70+), smokers start becoming a lot cheaper simply because most of them are dead.
In the graph, the peaks are where the average life expectancy is. If nobody smoked, health care costs would be lower for people aged up to ~73, but at that point, since the smokers' life expectancy has already peaked, a population consisting entirely of non-smokers suddenly becomes much more expensive.