As President Barack Obama pushes Congress to pass by August a health-care reform bill that provides coverage to all Americans, a new study from Harvard University about the money-making practices of health insurers has caught our attention. 

Each year, about 443,600 people in the United States die from tobacco-related illnesses; about half of all Americans who keep smoking will die from it. This nasty habit kills more of us than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, murder and illegal drugs combined, according to the American Cancer Society. It’s the leading cause of cancer deaths among men and women.

And it appears health insurers are hedging their bets that these deaths will actually make them money. The seemingly twisted findings are a part of a study out this week from Harvard doctors, who say that seven health and life-insurance companies in both the United States and overseas have nearly $4.5 billion invested in tobacco stocks. Prudential company alone has more than $1.5 million invested. That means those insurance companies have a financial interest in seeing more people smoke.

"It’s the combined taxidermist and veterinarian approach: either way you get your dog back," Harvard’s David Himmelstein, who co-author of a letter published in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, told Scientific American, who contacted some of the insurance companies mentioned to get comment. "If you own a billion dollars [of tobacco stock], then you don’t want to see it go down."

Smoking is a health concern for all women who inhale. Smoking-related diseases caused the deaths of about 174,000 women each year from 2000 to 2004, and on average, those women died 14.5 years earlier because they smoked. The U.S. Senate this week is expected to OK new laws that for the first time will permit the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco product, including how much nicotine is in each cigarette, and banning advertising and marketing aimed at children, among other things. 

Meanwhile, Democrats are mobilizing people around the country to push health-care reform. ABC News says that Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-MA, has drafted a plan that would require employers to insure their workers. Then there’s the portion of the plan that says some of the 164 million Americans covered by employer-provided insurance could be asked to give up part of a tax exemption allows for that compensation. These ideas, among others, have many businesses raising an eyebrow. The health-care reform battle is sure to be a nasty one, particularly with the powerful insurance industry also gearing up for a fight.