CDC: Add $2 per drink for US excessive drinking
October 17, 2011 By MIKE STOBBE , AP Medical Writer in Health(AP) -- The toll of excessive drinking works out to about $2 per drink, in terms of medical expenses and other costs to society, according to a new federal research.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study calculated societal costs from binge and heavy drinking beyond what consumers pay at the bar or liquor store. It's the first such federal estimate in more than a dozen years.
The study looked at costs that included - among other things - lost work productivity, property damage from car crashes, expenditures for liver cirrhosis and other alcohol-associated medical problems, and money spent on incarceration of drunk drivers and criminals using alcohol.
The CDC estimated excessive drinking cost society nearly $224 billion in 2006, the most recent year for which all necessary statistics were available. That worked out to about $1.90 per drink, 80 cents of which was spent by federal, state or local governments, the researchers estimated. The rest came from drinkers, their families, private health insurers, employers, crime victims and others.
Most of that was related to binge drinking, in which four or five alcoholic beverages are consumed on one occasion.
"Binge drinking results in binge spending," said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.
CDC officials noted that while some health benefits have been associated with, say, a glass of wine each day, there are no health benefits linked to excessive drinking. They also said the new study likely represents an underestimate of the total cost.
Smoking has been estimated to cost society about $193 billion annually. An older study estimated the cost of not exercising to be around $150 billion.
The study was released Monday by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
©2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Oct 17, 2011
Rank: 3.5 / 5 (2)
What the study shows is the fact that with those people dying much earlier in life, they don't end up on Medicaid during the most financially expensive time in their lives.
Class Warfare propaganda. It always serves a purpose. Money.
Until you take profit out of healthcare, B.S. such as this will continue to be funded by those who stand to profit from it.
Oct 18, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (2)
Oct 19, 2011
Rank: 3 / 5 (4)
I remember the Libertarian arguments supporting the right of the individual to drive drunk.
The demand was that it was all a matter of personal liberty and freedom to travel on the public roads unimpeded by government fiat.
Libertarians have grown increasingly more idiotic since then.
Oct 19, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
Oct 19, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
Oct 19, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Does the term 'prohibition' ring a bell (1919-1933)? Do you know how that turned out?
the best way to prevent binge drinking is to not make alcohol a mysterious/forbidden substance. Once it loses its mystique it loses its appeal.
Oct 19, 2011
Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
a glass of wine now and then promotes blood flow. very healthy i believe.
let a child taste alcohol, s/he will stay off it for a long time.
Oct 19, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
Just about as well as the war on drugs.
Is that $2 over and above the taxes paid by companies like Jack Daniels"
"Federal, state and local taxes accounted for $7.77, or 55%, of the average $14.21 price for a typical 750ml bottle of 80 proof distilled spirits in the United States in 2010."
Oct 19, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
It appears that in many people there is a genetic predisposition for the consumption of alcohol - probably a result of an association between naturally occurring alcohol and ripe, fermenting, sugar rich fruit.
Prohibiting the consumption of alcohol is therefore like prohibiting the consumption of refined salt or refined sugar which have similar genetic components to their consumption.
Limiting consumption is however, a viable goal, best approached by limiting the production foods containing the salt/sugar/alcohol that is to be controlled.
How long have you been a supporter of the unregulated overconsumption of alcohol RyggTard?
Oct 19, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
You poor mindless drunk.
Oct 21, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
I am certain that there is a dollar figure negatively associated with the consumption of each additional calorie beyond one's core energy requirement. Same for the use of petroleum products. Air conditioning, smoking, coal use, the use of a personal vehicle vs. public transportation, etc., etc.
The CDC would be wise to leave the dollar figures to insurance industry actuaries and focus instead on the specific health problems they are attempting to combat.