Health-Care Bill: Paying to Help the Poor to Quit Smoking

Published On: December 18th, 2009

Chantix Massachusetts saw a big drop in smoking rates among its Medicaid patients after the state offered to pay for counseling and drugs to help people on Medicaid quit smoking. Now there’s a push on in the Senate to expand Medicaid coverage of smoking-cessation nationwide.

The Senate health-care bill already includes language (see p. 503) that requires Medicaid to cover smoking-cessation drugs (which, we noted a few months back, could be a boon for Pfizer’s Chantix, among others).

An amendment introduced by Dick Durbin and Bernie Sanders, both Dems, would require Medicaid to cover more comprehensive anti-smoking treatment, including drugs and counseling, the New York Times reports this morning. If the amendment fails, negotiators may try to add coverage in the conference committee that will merge the House and Senate bills (assuming the Senate passes a bill).

Massachusetts reported last month that smoking rates had fallen by 26% among Medicaid patients after two years of covering drugs and counseling smoking-cessation, along with an aggressive marketing campaign to get people into the programs. During the same period, smoking rates for uninsured people in the state (there are still some, apparently) remained largely unchanged, the Boston Globe said.

Photo by aprilzosia via Flickr

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Health-Care Bill: Paying to Help the Poor to Quit Smoking

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