Help for Employers: Reducing Costs of Smoking

Paying for employees tobacco cessation treatment provides more return on employer investment than any other adult treatment or prevention benefit (CDC 2006)

Check your company’s health insurance to determine if it covers tobacco cessation counseling and cessation products. If it does not, ask for it.

Smoking Attributable Mortality

Each year, more than 440,000 people die of smoking-related illnesses in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is the leading underlying cause of premature death and disability.

In Delaware, about 1,200 deaths each year result from cigarette smoking.

Smoking can cause several types of cancer, heart disease and stroke, and lung diseases. These diseases are the leading killers in the United States.

Productivity Losses and Health Expenditures

A significant amount of time is lost from businesses due to smoking breaks, illnesses, and fatalities caused by tobacco use. Smokers are more likely than non-smokers to suffer a disability, miss work, and have reduced productivity, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS).

On average, direct medical expenses and lost productivity resulting from smoking related diseases and death total a staggering $722.8 million a year in Delaware.

The USDHHS estimates that a one percent reduction in health care costs could increase retained profits by 5 percent.

More Information About Smoking in the Work Place

CDC Resources

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Help for Employers: Reducing Costs of Smoking

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Smoking Attributable Mortality

Productivity Losses and Health Expenditures

More Information About Smoking in the Work Place

Delaware's Government