Dumb idea. They could just start smoking again. Rinse and repeat. And unrealistic to monitor the quitters for the rest of their lives and sue them if they go back.
As a former smoker, I can say without a doubt that smoking was a totally free choice on my part, as was stopping smoking. I'm not sure why health professionals always seem to discount agency. It's almost as if they want people to believe that they are helpless beings, tossed to and fro by fate.
Gee- I would love someone to pay me for eating well and exercising.
2
Getting paid for doing something that benefits your well being or someone else's (say, paid plasma donation) is the powerful incentive from doing something highly unpleasant like quitting smoking. If you don't get paid, the positive feeling is showing compassion or self-compassion. I guess a small amount of money is for many, more powerful than the urge to smoke.
1
Put a Health Tax on tobacco products.
The tax/pack = to all the health costs/number of packs (or other products) sold.
That way, the users will self-insure.
4
"The pooled [relative probability] for quitting with incentives at longest follow‐up (six months or more) compared with controls was 1.49 (95% CI 1.28 to 1.73; 31 RCTs, adjusted N = 20,097; I2 = 33%)."
in other words, for a control quit rate of 8%, the incentivized quit rate would be about 12%.
however, the standard term for "quitting" is 12 months, not 6 months, of abstaining from tobacco use. the 12 month quit relative rate is almost surely lower than 1.49/1.00.
...
"Incentives offered included cash payments or vouchers for goods and groceries, offered directly or collected and redeemable online....Although not always clearly reported, the total financial amount of incentives varied considerably between trials, from zero (self‐deposits), to a range of between USD 45 and USD 1185."
who paid for these incentives? online = which famous website marketplace? i see an marketing opportunity for website marketplaces. @cash_card_for_quitting
...
pay people not to drink alcohol, too? pay people to switch to nicotine vapor instead of combusted tobacco? pay people to exercise regularly and to eat vegetables?
3
Each cigarette costs about $0.25 (more in some high tax states). I encourage patients to put aside a quarter for each cigarette they don’t smoke (ex. If you usually smoke 20 cig/ day and today you smoked only 15, put aside $1.25) then use that money for something nice for themselves. Giving yourself money for something that you want feels better than denying yourself something that you want.
7
I propose increasing the tax on cigarettes greatly and setting that money aside (not used for ANYTHING else) to cover the health issues caused. We have known for 50 years that smoking causes many health problems and yet people continue to smoke. May them pay!!