If the national Healthy People 2010 objective to increase insurance coverage of evidence-based tobacco-dependence treatments in all 51 Medicaid programs is to be achieved, Medicaid coverage for tobacco-dependence treatments must increase substantially, according to a report published in the Feb. 8 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Despite high smoking prevalence (35 percent) among recipients, high economic burden, and the availability of evidence-based and cost-effective treatments, eight state Medicaid programs did not cover any tobacco-dependence treatments, and only one program (Oregon) covered all recommended treatments in 2006, said the report, State Medicaid Coverage for Tobacco-Dependence Treatments: United States, 2006.
Even in states that provide coverage, there were significant restrictions on the use of these treatments. Providing full Medicaid coverage for all recommended tobacco dependence treatments, eliminating barriers to the use of these treatments, promoting treatment use, and educating Medicaid recipients and providers about coverage are critical to reducing tobacco use among this increased-risk population. Community and policy interventions (such as increasing the price of tobacco products, sustained media campaigns encouraging cessation and promoting available treatments, comprehensive smoke-free policies, and state-funded “quit lines”) complement the clinical treatments of tobacco use and increase quit attempts and quitting success. Read the report.
