The government seems to be wanting to make inroads with the American smoking public. "How so?", you may ask? Well, they've changed their stance on what they will pay for in regards to smoking cessation. They have always paid for smoking cessation medications and now it looks like they are willing to pay for smoking cessation counseling as well.Now we haven't talked too much about counseling, but here's the upshot. It works! Think of the success rates for nicotine replacement therapy and Zyban - only in the 6 to 10% range, depending on which article you read. Chantix boasts around a 20% success rate. So how does counseling fit it with all these magic pills? Well, add a simple smoking cessation counseling program to your method of choice and you increase the success rate to the twenties. That is astounding! Basically 4-5 times more successful than quitting cold turkey.
In the past, Medicare would only pay for counseling if you already had contracted a smoking related illness. Now they have removed that condition. This makes perfect sense, since most people have a smoking related illness in the pipeline when they reach Medicare age.
This is a move that shows how the government is hoping to move us from a treatment based healthcare system to a prevention based model. So congratulations to the US Federal Government on this one. I know, I can't believe I said it either.
