Here you go!
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
Here you go!
Judith Anne, we all know that it takes a number of things that kill a person. Not just smoking. Was the person obese? Were they a couch potato that never exercised? How was their diet?
But just because a person smoked, the authorities blame the death on smoking without taking everything else into account.
The war on the smoker has gotten way out of hand, and it's people like jorge that contribute to it.
Maine has opened up THREE Meth clinics! I wonder what jorge would say about THAT! But OMG, they better not SMOKE. heh!
You actually believe this story?
You think Doctors and medical professionals are such fools or charlatans that such a fraud can be put over for so many years?
Think again. There are NUMEROUS photos of smokers lungs compared to healthy lungs. Not just one set.
I personally know people who had Doctors in their families, who brought them to the hospital to show them the diseased and blacken lungs removed from deceased smokers.
Most people who see them WILL QUIT SMOKING.
Of course there are many people who remain in denial as you are who will continue to smoke no matter what happens to them.
Some of them are in cancer wards but still smoke through the holes in their throat.
A great way to go, huh?
Funny you should mention that.......I just finished reading an article about drug and alcohol addiction counseling programs mandating smoking cessation counselling as well.
Just how do you explain THAT, jorge???? Huh???!!!!
That's why I roll my own. So my tax dollars don't line the pockets of these idiots!
Rest in peace, Reggie White.
He was only 43? Wow. I thought he was in his late 40's or early 50's.Poor guy.
So, do 100% of smokers get lung cancer? If not, why not? And what is the ACTUAL percentage? What risk factors for lung cancer occurred concommitantly?
Does a non-smoker ever get lung cancer? If so, why? What is mesothelioma? What is radon, where is it found, and what are the effects of natural radon on people who live in houses where it occurs naturally?
Is smoking damage to the lungs dose related? What are the variations in cigar, pipe, and cigarette smoking? What does heredity have to do with emphysema? Why do some non-smokers get it?
Name a person who died from second-hand smoke.
Yes, he was only 43. He was born in 61.
People with the mindset of jorge make me sick. They are SO SURE that smoking kills. And that is just not true.
You mentioned black lung. There are thousands living today with black lung, and not ALL of them are smokers. But to the likes of jorge, there is no such thing as black lung. If a person has black lung, he got it from smoking. That's exactly how his kind thinks.
Judith Ann, when it's my time to go, it won't matter one iota if I ever smoked or not. I wish these people would get that through their heads!
After the untimely death of Reggie, I doubt if we will hear from the likes of jorge anymore. heh!
Did I say 41? He was 43. But still so very young.
Sad----an early death is tough.
His death could be considered proof of the dangers of NOT smoking if the same warped statistics were used as the ones used for the dangers of smoking.
The entire smoking-hysteria thing makes me weary.
Mears, I realize that smoking isn't good for us. But like I said: when our number is up, it won't matter one bit if we smoked or not.
And when people like jorge spew about all smokers getting lung disease, heart attacks, etc, it really puts my fur up.
In all my years, I have never known anyone with such diseases.
And I have known a LOT of smokers!
I guess we have to 'consider the source.'
Now! If a person like this guy smoked, I can undertand him dying of a smoking related disease. heh! But, you have to consider how fat he is, as well. (God, I hope he DOESN'T smoke, as FAT as he is. Holy Cow!)
It's called the easy way out and moving on.
As far as Emphysema goes, my former boss never smoked a day in his life and after meeting the ground with his T-33 at an air show, the 128 flags posted in the ground showing body parts were pulled and a medical investigation pursued. He had "advanced" emphysema was the determination. Go figure....
No doubt, some will assume 2nd hand smoke to be the blame. Laughable to say the least.
Alas, hysteria is fashionable these days...
Prophetic comments you made yesterday...
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