Posted on 12/25/2004 10:37:36 AM PST by SheLion
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 investment in smoking cessation benefits all that more important. It's never too late to benefit from quitting smoking."
An estimated 9.3 percent of those age 65 and older smoke cigarettes. About 440,000 people die annually from smoking related disease, with 300,000 of those deaths in those 65 and older.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated in 2002 that 57 percent of smokers age 65 and over reported a desire to quit. Currently, about 10 percent of elderly smokers quit each year, with 1 percent relapsing.
"The evidence available fully supports the hope that seniors at risk of the diseases caused by smoking can quit, given the right assistance," CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. said. "As we add the 'Welcome to Medicare' exam and other preventive benefits and drug coverage, this is another step in using the medical evidence to turn Medicare into a prevention- oriented program."
The proposal to cover smoking cessation counseling comes in response to a June 2004 request from the Partnership for Prevention (PFP). The PFP requested CMS open a national coverage decision to consider coverage of tobacco cessation counseling as detailed in the HHS Public Health Service (PHS) 2000 Clinical Practice Guideline, Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence.
The guideline has been endorsed by many health care and professional organizations. Based on the evidence reflected in the guideline, CMS proposes to extend smoking cessation coverage to beneficiaries who smoke and have been diagnosed with a smoking related disease or are taking certain drugs whose metabolism is affected by tobacco use. This announcement builds on a series of HHS initiatives designed to help Americans quit smoking, including the opening of a new national quitline (1-800-QUITNOW) and designating all HHS campuses tobacco-free.
While many may think those who quit smoking at age 65 or older fail to reap the health benefits of abstinence from tobacco, the U.S. Surgeon General has reported that the benefits of cessation do extend to quitting at older ages. Smoking cessation in older adults leads to significant risk reduction and other health benefits, even in those who have smoked for years.
The coverage decision involves Medicare beneficiaries who have an illness caused or complicated by smoking, including heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, lung disease, weak bones, blood clots, and cataracts -- the diseases that account for the bulk of Medicare spending today. It also applies to beneficiaries who take any of the many medications whose effectiveness is complicated by smoking -- including insulins and medicines for high blood pressure, seizures, blood clots and depression.
"The best way to prevent the serious health problems caused by tobacco is never to start using it. Millions of our beneficiaries have smoked for many years, and are now experiencing the heart problems, lung problems, and many other often-fatal diseases that smoking can cause. It's really hard to quit, but we are going to do everything we can to help," said Dr. McClellan. "I especially want to urge smokers on Medicare who are just starting to experience heart problems or lung problems or high blood pressure to take advantage of this new help -- and more is coming."
Medicare's upcoming prescription drug benefit will cover smoking cessation treatments that are prescribed by a physician.
CMS Chief Medical Officer Sean Tunis, M.D., said, "Federal policy has acknowledged tobacco as the number one cause of preventable death for decades now, and CMS has taken the lead in implementing coverage policy for our seniors to deal directly with this critical health problem."
In 1993, smoking cost the Medicare program about $14.2 billion, or approximately 10 percent of Medicare's total budget. On average, nonsmokers survived 1.6 - 3.9 years longer than those who have never smoked.
The proposed new coverage policy is available for review at the CMS coverage Web site (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/coverage). The posting of this proposed coverage policy marks the beginning of a 30-day public comment period. After close of the comment period, CMS will have 60 days to review the comments and issue a final policy.
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
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Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Define "herion." You've used that word in every post about illicit drugs. I want to know what you think "herion" is. Tell me how to pronounce it.
I have never known anyone addicted to "herion" by the way.
Quiting cigarettes was the hardest of all.
125 posted on 12/26/2004 7:32:43 PM PST by Jorge
Herion? I don't believe you. Not just because you can't spell, but because no HEROIN addict I have ever known was concerned about cigarette smoking, whether or not they did. Not one was thinking about quitting smoking, not one was thinking about taking up smoking. Cigarette smoking was never even on their radar.
You used that misspelling over several posts. For several reasons that I won't go into--but I know whereof I speak--I think you're upping the ante on a bad bet that you can win the anti-smoking argument by claiming you're a multiple drug abuser who thinks cigarettes are the worst of all.
JUDITH ANN, I KNEW THIS GUY WAS ON SOMETHING! Either that, or his brain is so fried that he is talking like a retarded idiot.
Thank you SO much for doing the research on this wasted piece of chit. I just KNEW he was/is on something. What a bunch of crap. And he has the audacity to come down on smokers. Well, let's consider the source!
Smoking doesn't affect all of the people the same way. Your system may be better able to handle the toxic load than other peoples. But statistics are clear. On average smokers have greater health problems and die earlier than do non-smokers. That doesn't mean every smoker will develop health problems, anymore than it means every non-smoker will be healthy.
Die EARLIER? Then why is Medicaid offering a smoking cessation course? That IS what this thread is about, or didn't you read it?
Smoking STILL beats being a crack-head any day!
"It is very possible that stoping smoking may lead to a better quality of life that may translate into fewer drugs, operations, and healthcare visits, that more than offset the longer life."
Also it's not always just about the money. Sometimes it's about doing the right thing.
Social engineering using taxpayer dollars is doing the right thing?
Sounds like Hillary-care to me.
What if it doesn't make any difference at all, except to make the social engineer "feel" better?
Get out of the social engineering business, get out of our lives, and get off the back of business. Or else admit what you are.
What if it does make a difference? What if it reduces Medicare costs, even though the patient lives longer?
They just can't if they WANT to.
Nope, can't happen. Never has and never will.
I was just dreaming when I quit, after 15 years of smoking for 18 years, while being married to a smoker at the time that I quit.
It never bothered me to be around a smoker even when quiting.
I have chosen to smoke again in the last couple of years "by choice".
Must be that nasty addiction that drove me to it..../sarcasm
So, you're in favor of MANDATING--forcing by law--the payment of Medicare (taxpayer dollars) services to MAKE people quite smoking, because it MAY or MAY NOT make some kind of difference in what YOU perceive to be their quality of life?
Neither the article nor I said anything about "making" anyone stop smoking, the article said they were just offering voluntary services.
Is that why y'all are upset about this? It's not just that this program might cost medicare more than it saves, but that you see it as the first step to discriminating against smokers?
I carefully re-read the article. I did not see any use of the word "voluntary" nor any discussion of what would happen to Medicare benefits if the smoker decided not to "take advantage" of the counseling services. In addition, I see no nicotine delivery substitutes being paid for, except MAYBE, if a doctor "prescribes" a non-prescription item, not sure at all.
"Counselling" for cigarette "addiction" is offensive. Hugely offensive. Calling smokers "addicts" is hugely offensive. Implying that the habit of smoking needs psychological and/or medical treatment is hugely offensive.
Until legitimate tobacco research (like the UCLA study of ETS) gets the publicity it deserves IN THE UNITED STATES, then I'll continue to regard all anti-smoking advocates (which means, they advocate what you shouldn't do for your own good) as politicized lifestyle management experts using tax dollars to enforce prejudice, rape business, and fund greedy lawyers.
Well if they aren't "addicts" in need of counseling, then nobody will take advantage of the services, and it won't cost Medicare anything.
EVEN the cigarette manufacturers ADMIT that smoking can cause lung cancer, emphysema and other diseases.
There are different types of lung cancer (small cell versus large cell, I think). One type is strongly correlated with smoking, the other not.
Nothing (except life) has a 100% correlation with death. However, certain types of behavior are more risky statistically speaking. However, statistics are meaningful at the group level, not at the individual level.
I am anti-smoking, but not anti-smokers. It is possible to be both. But in the end, I don't think govt should be doing this.
Because lung cancer doesn't tend to show up on xrays until the end stages. There are other diagnostic tests I would suggest you look into that would ensure that you make an informed decision.
A colleague of mine was just diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. She's a smoker, but has the small cell cancer (which is the one I think hits everyone, not just smokers). After talking with another friend who took care of her father when he just died from lung cancer (the one that smokers tend to get), I hope that people will investigate their own situations more carefully.
Nor did I, and based on past experience with the oh-so-caring types who benefit monetarily or emotionally from the Warp 10 Smug Factor, I'm guessing that smokers will be required to "volunteer" reduction of "benefits" for not acquiescing to being herded.
This is the inevitable result of socialized medicine.
174 posted on 12/27/2004 2:56:23 PM PST by DannyTN
Right, until benefits are tied to "counselling" for the "addicts." Assure me that won't happen.
Visitors, smokers, doctors and nurses all used to be able to smoke in the hospital. Probably I'm the only one who remembers that.
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