Jump to full article: Electronic Telegraph (uk), 2008-02-05
Author: Stephen Adams
Intro: Healthy people cost taxpayers more in medical bills over their lifetimes than smokers or the obese, a new study has found.
Because they tend to live longer, the savings that they make the state in youth and middle age are wiped out by the high cost of dealing with lingering diseases of old age like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
By contrast smokers - who pour millions extra into government coffers by purchasing cigarettes - cost the state the least because they tend to die younger. . . .
It is estimated the situation is already costing the NHS £1 billion a year.
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