Justawoman
03-23-2005, 04:12 PM
Okay, I almost let this little news tidbit run past me. Almost. It might not mean anything to you all but I live with a smoker who is 45 this year. That means in 20 years he will be consider a senior citizen who could be having health related problems due to his smoking. In fact ever since he was diagnosed as a diabetic I have started reading the causes and what can bring on diabetes in people who don't eat sweets and are not overweight and how he needs to change his lifestyle. Smoking is one of the major things The Diabetic Association says needs to go. It can bring on a multitude of healthcare problems in the diabetic. http://www.diabetes.org/home.jsp
In fact all you have to do is flip around in their website and it won't be
long til you are being warned about smoking and diabetes. So where is Justawoman going with this?
This was in the news today, "Medicare To Cover Quit-Smoking Programs".
When you dig around in the article you find out that not everyone is eligible. I sighed a sigh of relief. After all our social security is paying for Medicare. Read the quick quote reference below from Answers.com about Medicare.
I kept reading the article and ran across this:
Medicare officials said Tuesday they did not have an estimate of how much the new program would cost or how many people would be eligible for it. It covers only counseling sessions, not the cost of nicotine patches and gum or products pitched to help smokers quit. About 300,000 senior citizens die annually from smoking-related illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
300,00 seniors die annually from SMOKE-RELATED illnesses.
Then they tell you how many sessions they pay for. It covers 4 sessions a year at $32 a pop.
Medicare operated a pilot program for smoking cessation in seven states between November 2002 and December 2004. The official who oversaw it, Jim Coan, said the government paid about $32 for each counseling session, which usually lasted from three to 10 minutes. The maximum amount of claims that could be submitted per participant was four per year.
So let's say all of those that died with smoking related illnesses had gone in for counseling, and let's assume we are going to have that many seniors die from smoke-related illnesses, in the future, want counseling, before they die, let's run the numbers shall we?
That is a $128 dollars per senior citizen for their total of 4 sessions. Now times that by the statistics of those that died. That is a whooping, $38, 400, 000. I know in all probability that the number of seniors actually wanting to quit smoking to extend their life due to an illness caused by smoking won't be that high. In the pilot program only 7500 participated. Roughly came to $240,000. But I also know that if only half of 300,000 went in for counseling it would still be a huge amount to pay. I also know, from working with senior citizens, that if they can get it for free they will try. Most, not all, seniors love going to the doctor. They see it as a social visit. They get to see someone that pampers them and pays attention to them.
I can't really put a finger on why this whole thing bothers me. Perhaps it is because people choose to smoke. No one sticks a gun to their head and says SMOKE!! They know the risks and yet choose to stick a loaded gun to their head. So why should we have to pay into a system, that is dying anyway (according to what we are told) for someone else's dirty habit?
If an elderly person has smoked for the majority of their life I doubt they will quit long term.
I leave you with one more quote from the news article:
Still, elderly people who have smoked throughout much of their life aren't typically the best candidates to quit smoking - unless they are facing a life-threatening scenario.
``Will they quit smoking in their last few years? Not likely,'' Sturm said. ``It's not going to change much. It's not going to cost much.''
Officials at the American Medical Association applauded the government's move. They said seniors actually have a better chance of successfully quitting smoking than do people in other age categories.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-main-9-l9&flok=FF-APO-1500&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20050323%2F1204948694.htm&sc=1500
A Quick overview of Medicare from Answers.com:
Medicare, national health insurance program in the United States for persons aged 65 and over and the disabled. It was established in 1965 with passage of the Social Security Amendments and is now run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Coverage for the disabled began in 1973. Medicare provides for a basic program of hospital insurance, under which enrollees are protected against major costs of hospital and related care; and a supplementary medical insurance program, through which persons are aided in paying doctor bills and other health-care bills. It is funded by a tax on the earnings of employees that is matched by the employer and by premiums paid by enrollees. In 2002 nearly 40.5 million Americans were enrolled in Medicare. Legislation passed in 2003 provides for a drug benefit program (beginning in 2006), higher premiums for enrollees earning more than $80,000, and subsidies over 10 years to encourage private insurers to compete with Medicare.
In fact all you have to do is flip around in their website and it won't be
long til you are being warned about smoking and diabetes. So where is Justawoman going with this?
This was in the news today, "Medicare To Cover Quit-Smoking Programs".
When you dig around in the article you find out that not everyone is eligible. I sighed a sigh of relief. After all our social security is paying for Medicare. Read the quick quote reference below from Answers.com about Medicare.
I kept reading the article and ran across this:
Medicare officials said Tuesday they did not have an estimate of how much the new program would cost or how many people would be eligible for it. It covers only counseling sessions, not the cost of nicotine patches and gum or products pitched to help smokers quit. About 300,000 senior citizens die annually from smoking-related illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
300,00 seniors die annually from SMOKE-RELATED illnesses.
Then they tell you how many sessions they pay for. It covers 4 sessions a year at $32 a pop.
Medicare operated a pilot program for smoking cessation in seven states between November 2002 and December 2004. The official who oversaw it, Jim Coan, said the government paid about $32 for each counseling session, which usually lasted from three to 10 minutes. The maximum amount of claims that could be submitted per participant was four per year.
So let's say all of those that died with smoking related illnesses had gone in for counseling, and let's assume we are going to have that many seniors die from smoke-related illnesses, in the future, want counseling, before they die, let's run the numbers shall we?
That is a $128 dollars per senior citizen for their total of 4 sessions. Now times that by the statistics of those that died. That is a whooping, $38, 400, 000. I know in all probability that the number of seniors actually wanting to quit smoking to extend their life due to an illness caused by smoking won't be that high. In the pilot program only 7500 participated. Roughly came to $240,000. But I also know that if only half of 300,000 went in for counseling it would still be a huge amount to pay. I also know, from working with senior citizens, that if they can get it for free they will try. Most, not all, seniors love going to the doctor. They see it as a social visit. They get to see someone that pampers them and pays attention to them.
I can't really put a finger on why this whole thing bothers me. Perhaps it is because people choose to smoke. No one sticks a gun to their head and says SMOKE!! They know the risks and yet choose to stick a loaded gun to their head. So why should we have to pay into a system, that is dying anyway (according to what we are told) for someone else's dirty habit?
If an elderly person has smoked for the majority of their life I doubt they will quit long term.
I leave you with one more quote from the news article:
Still, elderly people who have smoked throughout much of their life aren't typically the best candidates to quit smoking - unless they are facing a life-threatening scenario.
``Will they quit smoking in their last few years? Not likely,'' Sturm said. ``It's not going to change much. It's not going to cost much.''
Officials at the American Medical Association applauded the government's move. They said seniors actually have a better chance of successfully quitting smoking than do people in other age categories.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-main-9-l9&flok=FF-APO-1500&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20050323%2F1204948694.htm&sc=1500
A Quick overview of Medicare from Answers.com:
Medicare, national health insurance program in the United States for persons aged 65 and over and the disabled. It was established in 1965 with passage of the Social Security Amendments and is now run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Coverage for the disabled began in 1973. Medicare provides for a basic program of hospital insurance, under which enrollees are protected against major costs of hospital and related care; and a supplementary medical insurance program, through which persons are aided in paying doctor bills and other health-care bills. It is funded by a tax on the earnings of employees that is matched by the employer and by premiums paid by enrollees. In 2002 nearly 40.5 million Americans were enrolled in Medicare. Legislation passed in 2003 provides for a drug benefit program (beginning in 2006), higher premiums for enrollees earning more than $80,000, and subsidies over 10 years to encourage private insurers to compete with Medicare.