The Costs of Poor Health Habits

by Willard G. Manning Jr. and Joseph P. Newhouse

Book Overview

Poor health habits (drinking, smoking, lack of exercise) take their toll on individuals and their families. The cost to society is less obvious but more far-reaching. This investigation quantifies the financial burden these detrimental health habits place on Amerian taxpayers. The authors measure the direct costs of poor health habits (fire damage, motor vehicle accidents, legal fees), as well as collectively financed costs medical care, employee sick leave, group health and life insurance), nursing home care, retirement pensions, liability insurance). Consider two co-workers covered by their employer's health plan: both pay the same premium, yet if one drinks heavily, the other - through their mutual insurance program - involuntarily funds the resulting health problems.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674174852
• ISBN13: 9780674174856
• Release Date: November 1991
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.5"