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Paying For The Health Costs Of Smoking: Loss Shifting And Loss Bearers, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Cigarette smoking is known to cause cancer, heart disease, and respiratory problems. These health costs are enormous, amounting to more than $50 billion per year. Although some of these costs are borne by smokers, many of them are externalized to nonsmokers. Recently, a number of states have sued tobacco companies in or- der to recover the costs of treating smoking-related diseases through their Medicaid programs. At the present time, the parties have agreed to a settlement that obligates the tobacco companies to pay billions of dollars to the states over the next twenty-five years. In other words, some of the …