Estimated Budget Impact of Adopting the Affordable Care Act's Required Smoking Cessation Coverage on United States Healthcare Payers.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Despite abundant information on the negative impacts of smoking, more than 40 million adult Americans continue to smoke. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires tobacco cessation as a preventive service with no patient cost share for all FDA-approved cessation medications. Health plans have a vital role in supporting smoking cessation by managing medication access, but uncertainty remains on the gaps between smoking cessation requirements and what is actually occurring in practice. This study presents current cessation patterns, real-world drug costs and plan benefit design data, and estimates the 1- to 5-year pharmacy budget impact of providing ACA-required coverage for smoking cessation products to understand the fiscal impact to a US healthcare plan.

Methods

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SUBMITTER: Baker CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5216065 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature