The dirty little secret in the health insurance industry is that smokers are cheaper because they don't live as long.
But if that were common knowledge the state couldn't charge exorbitant taxes from tobacco "settlements."
Nope,wrong.There's not much that I know about this dog-eat-dog world of ours but having worked for 20+ years at one of the world's finest (and most famous) hospitals I know something about the medical biz.Long time smokers,once they hit their 50's (and almost all of them do) start developing "COPD" which is commonly referred to as "emphysema".
Once COPD is established these patients routinely develop pneumonia as well as "flares".These events usually involve a couple of days (or more) in the hospital.Add to that the frequent doctor visits,X-rays,portable O2,home visits,inhalers (which *ain't* cheap) and you find that these smokers cost,over their lifetimes (even though possibly shortened) huge,*huge* sums of $$$.