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While smokers have had a definite impact on health insurance premiums in general, only this week did a study find how much smoking costs subsidized coverage, reflecting yet another factor that impedes progress towards affordable medical insurance.

At MSN Health, a report released by RTI International researchers finds that current smokers cost U.S. Medicaid $9.7 billion a year, or about 5.6% of total Medicaid expenditures.

And with smokers in general costing billions a year in health care costs and lost productivity, it's easy to see how affordable medical insurance has in part been impeded by smoking. It's also easy to see why many people advocate a new health care system that allows non-smokers and those who make healthy lifestyle decisions to pay much less for insurance.

But such changes are not going to happen overnight. So in the meantime, it's best not to smoke, and to find an affordable medical insurance plan that allows for important yearly checkups.