According to a study released today, California's dirty air led to nearly $200 million in hospital because of asthma, pneumonia and other pollution-triggered ailments.

Researchers at the Rand Corp. believe that exposure to excessive levels of ozone caused nearly 30,000 emergency room visits and hospital admissions during the study period.

The study reveals that public insurance programs were responsible for covering most of the costs, with Medicare and Medi-Cal picking up more than two-thirds of the expenses.

Lead Author, John Romley, an Economist says, "California's failure to meet air pollution standards causes a large amount of expensive hospital care. The result is that insurance programs, both those run by the Government and private payers face higher costs because of California's polluted air".

Romley said that the findings show that private insurers, employers and public insurance programs all have a financial stake in improving California's air quality.

"These costs may not be the largest problem caused by dirty air, but our study provides more evidence about the impact that air pollution has on the state's economy", Romley says.

Meanwhile, an agency spokesman said that the Air Resources Board is going ahead with new guidelines to reduce diesel emissions by 85% by 2020.