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(Access to Coverage of Tobacco Treatment In Our Nation)

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Facts About Tobacco Use

Tobacco use causes or complicates most of the nation’s most prevalent and costly chronic diseases (e.g., cancer, heart and lung disease, stroke, asthma).

Smoking is responsible for over 400,000 deaths each year in the United States and for $193 billion annually in healthcare costs and lost productivity.

  • Approximately 2.4 million cases of tobacco-related cancer were diagnosed in the United States from 1999 to 2004.
  • Half of lifelong smokers will die from a tobacco-related illness, half of these in middle age.

Tobacco addiction is recognized as a chronic disease, usually requiring multiple quit attempts before the user successfully quits.

  • Approximately 7 out of every 10 tobacco users say they want to quit and more than 40% make a quit attempt each year.
  • Few smokers successfully quit when making an unaided quit attempt. Yet, only one out of every three smokers makes use of evidence-based treatments when trying to quit, treatments that can double or triple success rates.

Individuals who smoke have higher total medical expenses than do nonsmokers due to their higher burden of illness. Men and women who smoke incur more in lifetime medical expenses – $15,500 and $17,500, respectively – than nonsmokers (in year 2002 dollars).

  • Excess medical expenses due to smoking and smoking-related illnesses cost employers $1,850 per smoking employee (both figures are adjusted to year 2002 dollars).
  • An employer’s cost to implement a tobacco cessation program becomes cost-neutral at 3 years and begins to save healthcare dollars at 5 years.
  • Smoking cessation programs are low cost. A comprehensive and effective smoking cessation program will usually cost less than $0.50 per member per month (PMPM).

In addition to direct medical costs, smokers incur higher costs related to disability, lost productivity, and absenteeism than do nonsmokers.

  • Men who smoke use four more sick days per year than do non-smoking males, and women who smoke use two more sick days per year than do non-smoking females.
  • In 1999, lost productivity due to smoking and smoking-related illnesses cost employers $1,897 per smoking employee.

The U.S. Surgeon General, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force have all concluded that evidence-based treatments are effective and their use should be encouraged.

The National Commission on Prevention Priorities ranked smoking cessation treatment a top-ranked (high impact and cost-saving) preventive service.

In The News RSS

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  2. Sep 08, 2010
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  3. Sep 02, 2010
    Delayed Quitters
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  4. Aug 30, 2010
    Expanding Coverage: Medicare Offers New Tobacco Cessation Counseling Benefit
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Key Dates RSS

  1. November 12-13, 2010: Treating Tobacco Dependence in Mental Health Settings
  2. November 6-10, 2010: American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
  3. October 30-4, 2010: American College of Chest Physicians: Chest 2010
  4. October 28-28, 2010: Multi-State Collaborative for Health Systems Change 2010 Conference

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