ACA and Tobacco Cessation

ActionToQuit attended a briefing entitled The Affordable Care Act and Tobacco Cessation: Advocating for Clarity and Accountability.  The speaker, Mila Kofman, presented the results of a report published by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute examining 39 health plans to determine the degree to which they provided the cessation benefits required under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Mila is also the Executive Director of the District of Columbia Health Benefit Exchange and is a nationally recognized expert on private health insurance markets.  She discussed the finding of the report which revealed poor performance among insurers across the board in providing the ACA-required tobacco cessation benefits. In addition, she encouraged tobacco control advocates within states to inform their state insurance commissioner of these compliance issues and ensure tobacco users are receiving the coverage required under the law.

 

These results are especially relevant after yesterday’s announcement of the final rule outlining health insurance issuer standards for a core package of benefits, called essential health benefits, that insurers must cover both under the ACA.

 

For more information on ACA and how it impacts tobacco cessation, check out the American Lung Association’s toolkit which provides materials and analyses exploring ACA provisions that address tobacco cessation and prevention.