CDC Press Release: Uneven progress in expanding state Medicaid coverage for smoking cessation

CDC Press Release: Uneven progress in expanding state Medicaid coverage for smoking cessation

CDC Press Release: Uneven progress in expanding state Medicaid coverage for smoking cessation

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent this bulletin at 03/27/2014 01:37 PM EDT

Press Release

Uneven progress in expanding state Medicaid coverage for smoking cessation

States make gradual progress, but few provide comprehensive coverage

More smokers would quit if state Medicaid programs covered more cessation treatments and removed barriers to coverage, according to a CDC study published in today’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. All 50 states and the District of Columbia cover cessation treatments for at least some Medicaid enrollees. Efforts to expand state Medicaid coverage for all smoking cessation treatments and the removal of coverage barriers have shown mixed progress over the past five years.

Americans enrolled in Medicaid are more likely to smoke than the general population, and smoking-related disease is a major contributor to increasing Medicaid costs. Insurance coverage of proven cessation treatments leads to more smokers using the treatments and successfully quitting smoking. A recent study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that more comprehensive state Medicaid coverage was associated with increased quit rates among smokers enrolled in Medicaid.

Read more>>