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B.C. Eyes Stop-Smoking Plan

Published: 2011-01-20    Views:108 reads

The B.C. government is considering a $25-million plan to provide taxpayer-funded subsidies or coverage to help people stop smoking.

Based on a "very early, high level assessment," the cost for all smoking-cessation products, including prescription and non-prescription ones, could be more than $25 million a year, said Michelle Stewart, spokeswoman for the B.C. Health Services Ministry.

"The definitive budget impact would depend on what would be covered and coverage criteria -- all of which are being considered as part of the ministry review," she said, adding that a final decision is not expected until later this year.

Organizations like the B.C. Lung Association, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C. and Yukon and the Canadian Cancer Society have been lobbying the government to offset the costs of smoking cessation interventions as Saskatchewan and Quebec now do.

A B.C. survey in 2008 found that about half of people made an unsuccessful attempt to quit smoking in the previous year.

Only five to 18 per cent of smokers are still smoke-free one year after quitting, according to studies, but a combined approach involving pharmaceutical products and medical counselling often increases sustained success rates.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C. and Yukon and the B.C. Lung Association make up the Clean Air Coalition of B.C., which exists to advocate for a tobacco and smoke-free province. Apart from urging taxpayer-funded smoking cessation products and physician counselling for those ready to quit, it also urges policy-makers to:

- Prohibit tobacco sales in drugstores and pharmacies.

- Make all public places, including those outdoors, smoke-free.

- Reduce and restrict the number of outlets that can sell tobacco within geographical areas.

Between 15 and 17 per cent of B.C. residents smoke, according to provincial government and Statistics Canada figures. That translates into over 550,000 people who smoke or use tobacco products.

Mark Collison, spokesman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, said while some B.C. residents may have help in paying for such products through extended benefit health plans, a large segment of the smoking population -- especially those in low socioeconomic groups -- who have no such coverage. And those with low incomes make up the majority of smokers.

"There is lots of strong evidence that physician counselling, combined with pharmaceutical interventions, results in a doubling or tripling of quit [smoking rates]," Collison said.

A report commissioned by the coalition and submitted to the province last fall said if the province increased cigarette taxes by one per cent, it would yield $38 million in revenue a year which would offset the costs of publicly funded interventions.

Every year, more than 6,000 B.C. residents die from smoking-related illnesses. Direct health care costs related to health problems associated with smoking are estimated at $752 million a year in B.C.

Source from: Vancouver Sun
http://act.tobaccochina.net/englishnew/content.aspx?id=45483