Even before the ACA, most Medicaid programs covered tobacco-dependence treatments. What not also cover IQOS?
Editor’s Note: See, Should Medicaid Cover IQOS?
From: Daily Vaper
WE DON’T NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO SOLVE SMOKING PROBLEM
Brian Fojtik
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According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, even before the Affordable Care Act most Medicaid programs covered tobacco-dependence treatments. Among the 51 Medicaid programs, 47 provided tobacco-dependence treatment coverage for some enrollees, 38 covered at least one tobacco-dependence treatment for all Medicaid enrollees and only four offered no coverage for tobacco-dependence treatment. And the Affordable Care Act has required that tobacco cessation must be provided at no cost to enrollees under most types of insurance since 2014. What that means is that the biggest customer by far for nicotine replacement therapies like gums and patches and medications like Chantix and Zyban aren’t smokers. They are actually either big government programs that purchase products directly for smokers or insurance companies that are mandated by the ACA to provide services to their consumers at no cost. Those purchases, of course, are ultimately funded by taxpayer subsidies and increasingly expensive premiums, even for those that don’t smoke and have never smoked.
