Assignment 5: Persuasive Paper Part 3: Possible Disadvantages, Answers, with Visuals
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eng_215_assign_4.docxRunning Head: SOLUTION TO THE RISING COST 1
SOLUTION TO THE RISING COST 10
Solution to the Rising Medical Cost
Cheryl A. Sonnier
Lisa Teitler
ENG 215 - English
2/19/15
Introduction
Over the years, the federal government in conjunction with the state governments has made substantive efforts in quest to reduce alcohol and cigarette smoking. Such campaigns have been done in order due to increasing health costs. The government budget on matters concerning health is thus becoming big and bigger hence need to address the concern. The uninsured happen to be in difficult position when it comes to the issue of health. It is not always possible for them to get access to health facilities as at and when required. Even though alcohol and cigarettes create employment hence their market may be depleted by such taxes, the government should increase alcohol and cigarettes taxes in order to reduce its consumption because it will lead to development of tax policies that support the move, it will shape individual way of life hence leading a healthy living and the government will collect enough revenue to cater for costs of uninsured.
Solution
To address the problem, the government should raise the taxes on the two commodities these are, alcohol and cigarettes. An increase in the price will act as a step towards mitigating the harmfulness brought forth by their consumption. Some chronic illness such as liver cirrhosis, mental problems, cancer, stroke, nerve damages can all be solved. The rise in price will be reflected as an increase in the price of the commodity. Bearing in mind that there will be no increase in disposal income among the consumers, two scenarios might arise. The first scenarios will reduction in the level of consumption among the consumers. The consumers especially the low level income earners will have reduce the amount they spend on two commodities. That interprets a low level of consumption. The next scenario is increase in the number of quitters. In this case, most of addicts/users will be forced to quit as consuming such commodities is proving to be costly (Ingraham, 2014). Quitting cannot occur within a day or two but will happen gradually as the time goes by. The users will use less and less of the commodity to an extent of not using at all finally. The raised tax will thus solve the problem of increased medical costs from the government point of view, change in culture of drinking and smoking and have political backing via development of laws to support the call for raised tax.
Merits of the Solution
The raised tax will have a number of merits. The first one is more revenue will be collected from the taxes (Reed, 2010). The government will thus have its revenue figure raised. The collected revenue will assist in boosting the government efforts in covering the raised medical costs. The uninsured being the main beneficiaries, will thus be in a position to access the medical cost at subsidized price. The notion behind the subsidized price is that the additional revenue from tax proceeds will be channeled to health sector. Accessing health attention will thus be possible at relatively lower prices that it was the case in the earlier periods. Health care will hence be provided at rates that the insured will enjoy.
In addition to that, individuals/users will lead a healthy culture. The merit denotes a situation where consumers of alcohol and cigarettes will be stripped of such culture of consumption (Farelly, 2012). The two products are known to have addictive elements. The addiction is what leads to more and more consumption. The frequent use of alcohol and cigarette and alcohol thus forms a culture. The abuse of such products has been known to have heard adverse health effects. With raised taxes, there will be less consumption which leads reduced illnesses related to the consumption of the two products. The former consumers will thus lead an illness free life without issues of health arising. The raised tax will thus be too or a mechanism that will work towards saving the life of the user. Though it will happen indirectly, it will be step towards changing the life of the consumers hence making the consumers to lead a health life. Illnesses related to consumption of such commodities will thus not be turmoil any more.
Moreover, policies will be developed that will work towards controlling the operation of the tax (World Health Organization, 2015). The development of the policies will alleviate political issues revolving the concept of tax. The policies will assist in the collection of taxes and act as a legal backing in the move. They will thus ensure no exploitation in the name of taxes and will further act as a tool of regulation. With policies in place, the tax solution will thus be implemented via use of mechanism laid down by the policies
Conclusion
In summary, the issue of health is at the center of operation in any field. The health of a nation determines its mileage in terms of its overall development. Raised tax of alcohol and cigarettes is a vital tool that will ensure that the health costs of the uninsured is addressed. As a result of the raised tax, merits such as more revenue that will fund subsidized health care of the uninsured and finally, development of a legal ground for tax purposes. As a result, the uninsured will stand to benefit once the raised tax rates are implemented.
References
Farelly, M. (2012). The consequences of High Cigarette Excise Taxes for low-income Smokers. Retrieved on 19th February 2015 on http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0043838
Ingraham, C. (2014, October 27). Want people to drink less? Make their cigarettes more expensive. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 19th February 2015 on http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/27/want-people-to-drink-less-make-their-cigarettes-more-expensive/
Reed, H. (2010). The effect of Increasing Tobacco Taxation: A cost benefits analysis and public finances Analysis. Action for smoking and Health. Retrieved on 20th January, 2015 on http://www.ash.org.uk/tax/analysis
World Health Organization. (2015). Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies. Retrieved on 19th February 2015 on http://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/monitor/en/
The Rising Medical Costs Owing to Alcohol and Tobacco Consumption
Cheryl A. Sonnier
Lisa Teitler
ENG 215 - English
2/19/15
Introduction
Healthcare is a major concern to many households in the current society. The increases in chronic diseases due to alcohol and tobacco have further made the costs soar to relatively higher prices than before. Such illnesses are resulting as a financial catastrophe to the government. The nation is thus spending a lot on recurrent expenditure rather than on development (Chaloupka, 2003). As a result, there is a hitch in economic growth and development. Even though due to their addictive nature, it is not always guaranteed that consumption level will reduce, The government should increase taxes on alcohol and tobacco so as cater for the rising medical costs especially of the uninsured because more laws regulating the consumption and collection of taxes will develop, it will lead to a healthy living, and the move will assist in collection of revenues that will help in subsidizing medical care.
Body
The alcohol and tobacco tax came into place with establishment of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, firearms and Explosives. The bureau at the time ran under the department of treasury. However, in 2003 there was the introduction of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade bureau that currently collects taxes on behalf of the government (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, 2012). The taxes can be traced from the excise tax that was instituted on the distilled spirits. Such taxes funded the revolutionary war activities. The treasury later collected taxes and as well as issued stamps on tobacco and alcohol products. The move was to ensure the financing of civil war. In twentieth century, the eighteenth amendment was instituted that brought by the treasury department that led to punishing the persons who employed illegal liquor proceeds to finance crime. Currently, via TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade and Trade Bureau), the government has engaged expatriates such as in chemists, auditors and investigators among others to assist in regulation of the two products. The bureau has ensured proper payment of taxes related to the two products hence eliminating malpractices as far as the two products are concerned. Increased health care costs due to effects of consuming the products have strained the government resources. Increase in taxes in other sectors in attempts to cover medical costs further leads to affecting the non-smokers financial wise. Regulation on alcohol and tobacco consumption has thus been done over the years with changes being made in the bureau to suit its purpose such as changes in its scope of work.
The first problem is related to money. By taxing alcohol and tobacco, huge amount of revenue could be collected from the exercise. An increase in tax leading to a tax of fifty cents per a pack of cigarettes would generate revenue amounting to $80 billion in a span of ten years. In any case the alcohol tax reached a figure of thirty per cent; revenue amounting to $250 billion could be collected in a span of ten years (Reed, 2010). Such funds could be directed towards providing subsidized care for patients that are not insured hence eliminating the strain that is in medical care.
The second problem is a social one related to changes in lifestyle (Reed, 2010). Currently, majority of the low income earners are the ones who engage in such unhealthy activities. That does not mean that they are absolutely the ones who are in such lifestyle. The taxes once instituted could lead to change in the lifestyle. Individuals will start deviating away from activities related to alcohol and tobacco. There will be a total change in life style as people abandon drinking and smoking. Such individuals might not quit completely but at least, there will be a reduction in the consumption rate. Low consumption will further interpret to less chronic illnesses related to the problem in question. The society will eventually give a room for such a social change. The life style change once integrated into the society will be a means towards alleviating the consumption of alcohol. The social problem of alcoholism and smoking tobacco will thus be changed.
The next problem is political. The raised tax has been a question for quite some time which has found its way to politics. The politics is at the heart of the nation’s activities. Its presence drives or leads to formation of certain laws or amendment (Reed, 2010). In this case, there have been a lot of politics related to the issue of taxing the two products. To raise such tax, polices are required to be developed. The developed policies will stipulate on how the tax measures will be effected or otherwise made to work. The taxes will thus be regulated by the policies to ensure that the process of tax collection is efficient. The policy makers thus need materials that are related to the issue in order to be able to articulate the matter in congress. As a result, policies developed that will work to ensure that medical costs are boosted by the raised taxes.
Conclusion
In summary, taxes derived from the alcohol and tobacco can be used to cater for health care costs. The nation will thus be having quite huge amount of revenue that will ensure some relief to the medical care. The huge revenue derived from the tax will be an effective economical move towards addressing the issue of health care. The problem of life style can further be addressed by the tax. The life style of drinking and consuming lots of the two products has ultimately had negative effect on health care costs. The consumption has led to illnesses which in turn translate to more funds directed towards addressing the health care issue. The problem can be solved with raised tax that discourages the consumption. The third problem is on politics that will assist in developing policies that will ensure the stipulations of risen tax are adhered to.
References
Chaloupka, F. (2003). Tobacco and Alcohol Taxation. Impacteen. Retrieved on 21st Jan, 2015 on http://www.impacteen.org/generalarea_PDFs/AMA_chaloupka082103.pdf
Reed, H. (2010). The effect of Increasing Tobacco Taxation: A cost benefits analysis and public finances Analysis. Action for smoking and Health. Retrieved on 20th January, 2015 on http://www.ash.org.uk/tax/analysis
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. (2012, April 20th). Federal tax Increase and related tax provision. Retrieved on 20th Jan, 2015 from http://www.ttb.gov/main_pages/schip-summary.shtml
