Just One-Tenth of Medicaid Patients Who Smoke Get Cessation Medication: Study

Only 10 percent of Medicaid patients who smoke receive smoking cessation medication, according to a new study. One-third of Medicaid patients smoke, compared with 17 percent of the general population.

Medicaid will pay for nicotine gum and patches if the patient has a doctor’s prescription. Other smoking cessation medications include bupropion (Welbutrin) and varenicline (Chantix), NPR reports.

In Massachusetts and Minnesota, more than 20 percent of smokers on Medicaid got at least one prescription in 2013, the researchers report in Health Affairs. In contrast, less than 7 percent of Medicaid smokers in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Texas received a smoking cessation prescription.

“The states that are doing less are also the states that have higher rates of smoking,” noted lead researcher Leighton Ku, Director of the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University.

He estimated state and federal governments spend about $70 billion annually for smoking-related health costs through Medicaid, which insures people with low incomes. In 2013, the program spent only $103 million on smoking cessation medication.

Most states that did not expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act have lower rates of medication use, the article notes. Some states charge Medicaid patients copays for medication, which can discourage them from using the treatment. The Affordable Care Act requires private insurance and Medicare to cover prescription smoking cessation medications without a copay.

“These data show that most Medicaid programs could do much more to help smokers quit,” Ku said in a news release. “Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that medical treatments for smoking-related diseases will cost the Medicaid program about $75 billion in 2016 but we spend less than one-quarter of one percent of that amount to help smokers quit.”