EnglishCornuti and mazziati
In the US, smokers always pay twice.
"Cornuti and Mazziati": "Cuckolded and Beaten, too …". The literal translation of an Italian saying.
In the US State of Georgia, more than 54,000 people covered by the State Employees Insurance Plan are paying an extra $40.00 a month because they smoke.
The new surcharge affects state workers, public school teachers and family members who have "confessed" they have used tobacco in the past 12 months.
Another 26,648 are paying $30 per month extra because their spouses have access to health insurance through their employer, but nevertheless are enrolled in the State Health Benefit Plan. The two surcharges could save the state $35.5 million.
…The penalty for not telling the truth on smoking and spousal coverage is the loss of the Statès insurance coverage for a year.
Tobacco use causes pathologies that it is supposed will afflict a great number of smokers. Consequently, tobacco leads to substantial medical costs that are paid by the collectivity. The high taxes on cigarettes have always been justified by the social cost of tobacco.
In the price of a packet of cigarettes, the taxes paid to the State often more than double the product s cost. This is seen if you buy the same product, for example, in a duty-free shop at an airport.
A carton of premium brand cigarettes, that is priced at about 15 dollars in a duty-free shop (on Yesmoke it cost 14.95 including shipping), can cost up to 90 dollars at the corner store.
In all wealthy countries and in all the United States , a smoker who buys one pack of cigarettes a day pays out in taxes, Federal or State it makes no difference, more that 40 dollars a month!
Unfortunately, speaking of social costs, we tend to forget to make the distinction between the countries that guarantee free medical services for everyone, as in Europe , and countries where medical aid is left to the economic possibilities of the individual, as in the USA.
The two surcharges could save the state $35.5 million, maybe more
About 611,000 people including employees and retirees are covered by the States health insurance plan.
The States of West Virginia, Alabama and Kentucky have also imposed a surcharge for their employees who smoke, and private industry has set similar fees in benefit plans.
Chequita Stephens, a case manager for the DeKalb office of the Division of Family and Children Services, has to pay both extra charges.
Her husband is covered by her health plan, and hès a smoker. Stephens said the monthly cost of her health insurance has gone from $141 to $260 over two-year period. That includes the surcharges. All employees saw their health plan costs go up by about $50 this year.
"I felt the insurance was already steep even before the smoking and spousal increases," she said. "My take-home pay has gone down. We have some employees who are single moms who have decided to drop health insurance altogether. They can't afford it."
In the meantime the State is trying to rake in even more: the number of surcharge payers, in fact, may drop, because the health plan is charging more than 12,000 members who failed to answer the questions on smoking and spouse insurance during open enrollment.
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