mikesbytes wrote:It would be interesting to see what the costs to society for [as an example] Type 2 diabetes and what the level of Type 2 should be in our society.
The cost example I'm aware of is Tobacco related health costs. Tax on Ciggies is $5B per year and the health cost is $25B per year which means that everyone in Aus is forking out $1K per year for ciggie suckers. [BTW I don't have a reference for the ciggie/health costs, let me know if you know of a reference]
RE: tobacco related health costs
The $25 billion (or $31.5B, depending on the source) was not the cost that smokers impose on the healthcare system. It was the "costs to society", which had some very interesting mathematics. The study was done by Collins & Lapsley and was an academic article, written for the Dept. of Health and Ageing back in 2005, and later used to justify the governments increases to tobacco tax in 2012-2013, and again in 2015-2016
Of that $31.5B:
$12B were considered tangible costs. In their report, the net burden on the healthcare system was $320 million. The cost in fighting smoking-related bushfires was $150 million. They attributed $8billion to workforce related costs (absenteeism, reduced workforce), and $3.5billion was attributed to 'abusive consumption costs' (the cost of purchasing tobacco, estimated at market prices, less taxes).
The remaining $19.5billion were defined as intangible costs: the sum of the psychological costs of premature death (incurred by family and friends) and the loss of enjoyment of life (incurred by the smoker) as a consequence of smoking-associated illness.
So just taking into account the tangible costs; the 'measurable' burden on
society is around $8.5 billion (the $3.5B is spent by the smokers themselves). The direct 'measurable' burden on
government is approx $470million, and they will see a smaller indirect cost in relation to the $8B estimated cost on the workforce.
Current tobacco-tax revenue is around $8billion.
Source:
The costs of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug abuse to Australian society in 2004/05
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/drugs ... mono64.pdf
...now back to the sugar debate...