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Lower
Prevalence of Death and Disease Among Policyholders
Insurers can play
an integral role in controlling the adverse health affects of smoking
among their policyholders by covering smoking cessation treatments as
part of their health insurance products.
Offering this coverage
creates positive results, ranging from reducing incidence of hospital
stays to preventing fires caused by careless smoking.
Smoking is the leading
cause of preventable death each year in the United States, claiming
more than 440,000 lives each year, including 7,350 in Wisconsin (4, 5). That’s
more than the combined death rates for AIDS, drugs, alcohol, homicide,
suicide and motor vehicle accidents, according to the CDC.
| Smokers
tend to incur more medical costs, see physicians more often and
be admitted to hospitals for longer periods than nonsmokers. According
to the American Cancer Society, a study of health care utilization
in 20,831 employees of a single, large employer showed employees
who smoked had more hospital admissions per 1,000 (124 vs. 76),
had a longer average length of stay (6.47 vs. 5.03 days), and made
six more visits to health care facilities per year than nonsmoking
employees (7).
Careless smoking is the nation’s leading cause of fire death,
according to the U.S. Fire Administration (13). |
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Benefits
of Quitting
According to the U.S. Surgeon General, quitting smoking has immediate
as well as long-term benefits, reducing risks for diseases caused by
smoking and improving health in general. Click
here for the Surgeon General’s report.
To contact a UW-CTRI
professional in your area to get started, click
here. |
