Merry Christmas! :^D
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
Some one has been caught by their own lies with that one.
If smoking is such a risk and a burden at the same time, why did I cack from heart issues 15 years after quiting?
I can guarantee that IF I were to be smoking at the time of my demise that smoking would have been labeled as the cause of it.
Merry Christmas! :^D
Anyone who's familiar with large retirement communities will notice that very few of them smoke.
Smoking tends to kill people off before they become very old.
And the few who do smoke and live to a fairly old age usually suffer from smoking related problems. Emphysema is one of the most horrible conditions smokers live with (if they don't die from cancer or heart attacks first).
I quit at 45 after 30 years of smoking. The benefits to my health and life in general are well worth it. It's probably the best thing I ever did for myself.
Sounds like another scam to get doctors to prescribe more drugs to "help" people quit (and have mediscare pay big bucks for them)-welbutrin is a common one used-unfortunately sometimes instead of making someone feel happy, it causes them to do violence-I worked with a woman who wrecked the business owner's office and tried to brain him with a lamp while she was taking the stuff. And let's not forget the nanny state "counseling" that some airhead social worker will get paid by mediscare for. Hmmm-maybe I should dust off the credentials and degree I spent a lot of money and time getting...
LOL!!!
Merry Christmas.
Great cartoon. LOL
I've read (though not verified) that the government of the Czech Republic actually encourages smoking for this very reason.
I'm very glad that was the right choice for you, but I don't think one size fits all. My grandfather was 91 when he died, my grandmother 104 when she passed. They both smoked WAY over a pack a day to the day they died with no prior illnesses except the fact that the human body and mind is apparently not made to last much longer than that. My dad (their son) died of a heart attack at 75. He never smoked.
Merry Christmas, Gabz!
Merry Christmas from the good Madame and I, honey.
God almighty,will they ever quit. The statistics about the death of the elderly from smoking scares me to death.It is frightening beyond words.LOL
As soon as I can go I will take their free quit-smoking course,just for laughs.. I might as well get something out of Medicare---I'm not costing them much otherwise,too healthy.What a waste of taxpayers money.
I had a superb Christmas,the Denver and New York kids were home so I saw all my grandchildren,ate like a pig,and laughed all week.
God is good.
Is Annie your kittie? Adorable!
When it comes to smoking being an unhealthy habit that killed hundreds of thousands of people a year, one size does fit all.
A person can drink and drive many times and dodge the bullet when it comes to avoiding a deadly accident or arrest. That doesn't make it safe.
The fact that you or I happen to know some people who smoked and lived to old age, and some people who didn't smoke who died young, doesn't change that fact.
Isn't this ridiculous??
Merry Christmas, Gabz. Hope Santa was good to you!!!
They think we are so stupid out here, EGPWS! Well, they can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but they can't fool all of the people ALL of the time.
I have a half a notion to write someone about this.
Merry Christmas Meek!!!! Hope Santa was good to YOU too!!!!
Same here. My one grandmother smoked 3 packs of unfiltered Camels a day and lived to be 86. Died of old age.
My other grandmother died at age 42, full of cancer. Never smoked a day in her life.
Jorge is WAY off base here.
Hope Santa was good to you and the Misses, Honey Bear!
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