Smoking, Work and Health: Increasing Access to Effective Smoking Cessation Treatments

Cigarette smoking remains the single most preventable cause of disease and premature death in the U.S. and California. Smoking cessation treatments that have proven to be both effective and cost-effective include nicotine replacement therapy (NRT gum and patch), Zyban, and behavioral interventions. The Agency for Health Care Policy Research (AHCPR), in its 1996 Clinical Practice Guideline on Smoking Cessation, recommended that every person who smokes should be offered one or more of these treatments. However, approximately 22% of California’s workforce smoked cigarettes in 1999. Most California workers who smoke do not have access to worksite smoking cessation programs. Most California workers with employer-based health insurance are not covered for effective smoking cessation treatments. Helping smokers to quit, using effective treatments, is one of the most cost-effective interventions available to improve the health of Californians. Policy is needed to increase access to and use of effective smoking cessation treatments and to reduce the number of workers who continue to smoke.