WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to provide new coverage allowing certain Medicare beneficiaries who smoke to receive counseling services that will help them quit the habit. "We're building on our efforts to help America's seniors help themselves to quit smoking and live longer," Secretary Thompson said. "This new benefit, focused on treating seniors' smoking related diseases, will go a long way toward reducing their risk of dying prematurely. The combination of lives lost, unnecessarily, and the cost of treating smoking-related diseases makes our...