Medicare Expands Coverage To Help Smokers Quit
Medicare Expands Coverage To Help Smokers Quit
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) â They have lived with the health warnings about smoking for much of their lives and doubtless seen the ill effects on friends, relatives, and even themselves, yet about 4.5 million older people in the United States keep on lighting up. Medicare is finally catching up to most private insurers by providing counseling for anyone on the program who is trying to kick the habit.
Dr Barry Straube, Medicareâs chief medical officer, says it is never too late to quit, even for lifelong smokers.
âThe elderly can respond to smoking cessation counseling even if they have been smoking for 30 years or more,â said Dr Straube. âWe do know we can see a reduction in the death rate and complications from smoking-related illnesses.â Not only cancer, heart disease, and lung problems, which can kill, but also gastric reflux, osteoporosis, and other ailments that undermine quality of life.
Smoking-related illnesses cost Medicare tens of billions a year. Dr Straube cites a two-decade estimate of $800 billion, from 1995 through 2015.
Medicare already covers drugs used to help smokers quit, as well as counseling for those who have developed a smoking-related illness. But starting immediately, the program will expand the benefit to cover up to eight counseling sessions a year for people who want to quit.
Next year, such counseling will be free, under a provision in President Barack Obamaâs health care law that eliminates co-payments for preventive services.
Older smokers often do not get as much attention from doctors as do younger ones. âThey just figure, âWell, itâs too late,ââ said Dr Straube, that the damage is already done. That may start to change now.
About one in ten seniors smoke, compared with one in five people among the US population as a whole. It turns out that smokers age 65 and older present a medical paradox.
Many started when it was fashionable to light up. They are more likely than younger smokers to be seriously hooked on nicotine and less likely to attempt quitting. But research shows that their odds of success are greater if they do try to give up the habit.
Older smokers who receive counseling are significantly more likely to quit than those who only get standard medical care. One study of elderly heart attack patients found that those who got counseling to help quit smoking were more likely to be alive five years later.
It is unclear why older people who try to quit have better luck than younger smokers.
Some experts think it is because older smokers are more motivated, perhaps from having seen a loved one die of cancer or heart disease, or by recognizing how the cigarette habit has left its mark in their own bodies, anything from wrinklier skin to shortness of breath.
Dr Straube has his own theory: âTheyâre under less stress,â he said. âThey are not working anymore, and they have more time.â
Medicareâs new smoking cessation benefit will also be available to younger people who are covered by the program because of a disability. About one million of them are smokers.