Tom Fletcher in his article, “B.C. battles smoking, salt consumption” (Healthy Lifestyles, Feb. 8) makes a mistake where he says, “More than 6,000 residents die each year from smoking related illness, costing an estimated $605 million in direct health care costs.”
These are excess costs only if these people never die. Sooner or later everyone of us dies and we will incur those health care costs whenever that occurs; it is only that smokers die at an earlier age.
Actually, early deaths are good for the health care system. Most of us make our big demandson health care when, after about age 75, we start suffering from the frailties and illnesses of old age. By dying early, smokers save the system these old age expenses, so they are actually less of a health care burden, not mentioning the tobacco taxes they pay.
Hey, I’ll drink to that.
Fred Langford
Sidney