foodconsumer.org: Medicare now covers smoking cessation as a preventative measure

Medicare now covers smoking cessation as a preventative measure
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Jimmy Downs on 08/28/2010 18:50:00
 
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Aug 27
that Medicare will now cover smoking cessation counseling as a preventative
measure against a wide range of diseases.
Smoking cessation is covered under Medicare, but not as extensively as it soon
will be. Patients in the past could receive benefits only after their physicians
recommend smoking cessation to help treat their smoke-associated diseases.
The new coverage is mandated by the Affordable Care Act, which contains a number
of provisions that focus on preventing diseases including smoke cessation,
vaccination, regular physical checkups and cancer screening, among others.
Under the new coverage, all smokers covered by Medicare, regardless of whether
or not they suffer a smoke-induced disease, can receive tobacco cessation
counseling from a qualified physician or other Medicare-recognized clinician
indicated to help the patients to quit smoking.
All Medicare beneficiaries will continue to have access to smoking-cessation
prescription drugs through the Medicare Prescription Drug Program (Part D).
"For too long, many tobacco users with Medicare coverage were denied access to
evidence-based tobacco cessation counseling," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
said in a statement.
"Most Medicare beneficiaries want to quit their tobacco use. Now, older adults
and other Medicare beneficiaries can get the help they need to successfully
overcome tobacco dependence."
There are about 46 million smokers in the United States, about 10 percent of
them or 4.5 million are Medicare beneficiaries over age 65, and another million
receive Medicare benefits due to a disability, according to HHS.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), what Medicare
covered in the past include two types of counseling: intermediate cessation
counseling is 3 to 10 minutes per session and intensive cessation counseling is
greater than 10 minutes per session.
Specifically, "Medicare will cover 2 quit attempts per year. Each quit attempt
may include a maximum of 4 intermediate or intensive counseling sessions, with
the total annual benefit covering up to 8 sessions in a 12-month period. The
health care provider and patient have the flexibility to choose between
intermediate and intensive counseling," CMS states on its website medicare.gov.
To be eligible to receive this benefit in the past, the CMS stated, "a
beneficiary must have a condition that is adversely affected by smoking or
tobacco use, or that the metabolism or dosing of a medication that is being used
to treat a condition the beneficiary has is being adversely affected by his or
her smoking or tobacco use."
Tobacco smoke has been linked to a range of diseases including heart disease,
cerebrovascular disease (stroke), hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis, macular
degeneration, cancers, lung disease, weak bones, blood clots, and cataracts.
Editing by Rachel Stockton