SMOKE, DIE YOUNG AND SAVE?
M. Jeffrey Maisels MD
The Michigan Distributors and Vendors Association has commissioned a study on the evils of raising cigarette taxes in Michigan.
Besides predicting grave moral consequences, ruin to the economy and the deprivation of smokers' families (smokers allegedly don't stop buying ciggies when the price goes up—they buy less of other things), the study seeks to refute the notion that smokers impose costs on the rest of us.
"While it is argued that cigarette smokers place an undue burden on the health care system, they actually make less use of subsidized health care and transfer payments than do the non-smoking population due to their shorter life spans," reports the study by the Hillsdale Policy Group.
Now there's an argument for making cigarettes cheap and widely available. Perhaps someone should pass it along to Hillary Rodham Clinton as an effective —if macabre—way to control health care costs.
