HR3590 Health Care Bill & Government Health Insurance

An announcement from the administration – shared in a feature on The Huffington Post – revealed that Medicare coverage for seniors has been expanded to include beneficiaries who have not yet been diagnosed with a tobacco-related disease.

Before the expansion, Medicare coverage only included tobacco-related counseling for patients who have already been diagnosed with a tobacco-related disease. With the expansion, beneficiaries who are trying to quit smoking will be able to avail of coverage for up to two tobacco-cessation counseling sessions yearly, for up to four individual sessions per attempt.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the following in a statement: “For too long, many tobacco users with Medicare coverage were denied access to evidence-based tobacco cessation counseling… Most Medicare beneficiaries want to quit their tobacco use. Now, older adults and other Medicare beneficiaries can get the help they need to successfully overcome tobacco dependence.”

The feature mentioned that the expansion is in keeping with the thrust of the administration to push the US health care system towards prevention. It is also something that will be more helpful to tobacco users since tobacco cessation treatment may prove to be too late for someone who has already been diagnosed with such tobacco-related diseases as cancer or heart disease. In such cases, nipping it in the bud and keeping a disease from ever happening at all is more desirable, which means that the best time to undergo counseling is before the onset of disease. Hopefully, the fact that counseling is now covered under the expansion will encourage seniors to get rid of their smoking habits before it’s too late.