Cost-Effectiveness of U.S. National SSB Tax with a Multistakeholder Approach: Who Pays and Who Benefits
2019
This analysis estimated the health impact and cost-effectiveness of a national penny-per-ounce sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax, overall and with stratified costs and benefits for nine distinct stakeholder groups.
A microsimulation model (CVD PREDICT) was used to estimate cardiovascular disease reductions, quality-adjusted life years gained, and cost-effectiveness for U.S. adults aged 35 to 85 years, evaluating full and partial consumer price pass-through.
Results showed that from both a health care and societal perspective, the SSB tax was cost-saving. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios ranged from $20,247 to $42,662 per quality-adjusted life year for 100% price pass-through. For the beverage industry, net costs were $0.92 billion with 100% pass-through (largely tax-implementation costs) and $49.75 billion with 50% pass-through (largely because of partial industry coverage of the tax). For government, the SSB tax positively affected both tax revenues and health care cost savings.
Source:
Wilde P, Huang Y, Sy S, Abrhams-Gessel S, Jardim TV, Paarlberg R, Mozaffarian D, Micha R, Gaziano T. Cost-Effectiveness of a US National Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax with a Multistakeholder Approach: Who Pays and Who Benefits. American Journal of Public Health 2019. https://dx.doi.org/10.2105%2FAJPH.2018.304803
Not open access.