Spanish Smoking Ban Would Save Over €5,000m a Year
March 29th, 2010
With an appropriate policy for banning tobacco use, the Spanish national health system could save about 5,500 million euros in direct treatment expenditure, as well as saving 1,500 million euros in pharmaceutical costs.
This was the opinion given today by Juan Ruiz Manzano, president of the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), who stated that the amount of expenditure directly attributable to smoking in 2008 was 14,710 million euros, while tax revenues from the sale of tobacco in the same year reached only 9,266 million euros.
In 2008 the Spanish government’s direct healthcare cost of the five main illnesses associated with the consumption of tobacco – chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, lung cancer, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease – reportedly amounted to 6,870 million euros.
Additionally, as a result of smoking the cost to Spanish companies in the same year is estimated at around 7,840 million euros. Of this amount, 76% is attributed to lost productivity, 20% for additional costs in cleaning and the maintenance of facilities, with the remainder is due to absenteeism.
“Besides the benefits in cost savings to public health, expansion of the Anti-Tobacco Law would be one of the greatest advances in recent years in terms of overall public health,” said Ruiz Manzano. The pulmonologist expert specifically emphasized that the extension of this law is also necessary in order to “defend the rights of non-smokers to avoid inhaling the smoke of cigarette users.” He also argued that smoking should be treated as a primary public health problem, as each year it takes the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, both actively and passively.
There have been concerns that a complete ban on smoking would affect businesses, especially in hospitality and tourism in Spain. However, Dr. Carlos Jimenez, coordinator of the smoking department of SEPAR, has concluded that all studies on the economic impact of the laws of smoke-free environments in various countries have revealed no negative consequences whatsoever for the hospitality sector and, if there is an effect, it is a positive one.
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Do the health treatment cost savings of 6,870 million euros take into account the taxes paid by smokers on tobacco products?
In the Uk for example the taxes and duty paid by smokers is at least three times the amount spent by the NHS on the treatment of smoking related illnesses.
the article says that tax revenues in Spain from smoking are 9,266 million euros, but the figure of 6.870 million euros only relates to 5 main illnesses. the real cost is to the economy as a whole, and likewise the saving, here the total cost is 14,710 million euros, and therefore a balance of over 5,000 million is remaining. Your UK figures, while superficially correct, don’t take into account the overall effect on the economy either, recent studies show that tax raises 10,000 million pounds, but 13,740 million is the real impact on the economy. Tax on tobacco is certainly a lot lower in Spain than the UK, sharply raising it in both countries would go someway to alleviating the burden on the tax payer – but finding ways to stop people smoking altogether is the obvious target.
We spend about 3k to 4k per annum in Spain as we visit regularly from the U.K. Like many other english people (british if you prefer) we come to Spain to escape the Draconian smoking bans over here. We are losing 40 pubs a week STILL – after 3 years. If Spain brings in the same ban then we will no longer visit. Simple. Multiply us by thousands!