A recent study conducted in the US state of Massachusetts showed that when the state included smoking cessation treatments in the health insurance, many people started using what the market had to offer and consequently stopped smoking. Furthermore, the study also revealed a lower rate of heart attacks.
This is the first study that managed to show clear results in smoking prevention and quitting efforts.
Clients of the state health insurance for the poor, Medicaid, have really taken advantage of the possibility to join smoking cessation programs. Some 10 percent of them stopped smoking, while about 40 percent of the smokers with Medicaid insurance used the benefits to get nicotine gum, patches or FDA approved drugs to help them quit the habit. Before the program, 38 percent of the patients were smokers, way over the US average.
Furthermore, hospitalizations following heart attacks dropped by 46 percent among the Medicaid clients, while 49 percent less have been put into the hospital with smoking-related arterial problems.
This suggests that investing money in smoking prevention can, in the long run, save the state a lot of money, as smoking cessation drugs and helpers cost less than treatment for serious affections like heart attacks, strokes or arterial clogging.
In the first two and a half years of the program, about 75,000 patients with Medicaid started using the benefits of the Medicaid MassHealth program, which started paying for treatments that could help patients quit smoking – such as nicotine patches, gum, and drugs.
Most states in the US do not include smoking cessation programs in their insurance coverage for people with low income. Only some 12 percent offer full coverage, while partial coverage is more spread – about 45 percent.
In times when officials are looking for ways to cut down on healthcare expenses, better evidence will be needed in order for them to issue benefits that would incur additional costs, say experts.
