|
May 18, 2004
Little Rock --
Gov. Mike Huckabee announced a series of steps Tuesday designed to reduce smoking levels among state employees and
Medicaid recipients. Huckabee made the announcement during a news
conference at the state Department of Health headquarters in Little Rock.
Standing with Health Department employees, Huckabee released a policy
directive ordering state agencies to ban smoking within 25 feet of the
entrances to state buildings. The ban will take effect July 1.
The governor also ordered each state agency to study a potential
smoking ban on all state property. Agencies are to report back by the end
of the year. The Health Department and the University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences will institute complete smoking bans on their property in
July.
Huckabee also requested that the State and Public School Life and
Health Insurance Board amend state employee health insurance policies to
cover services that help people quit smoking. Insurance policies
traditionally don't cover services such as nicotine patches.
The governor requested that the board explore how financial incentives
could be offered to state employees who voluntarily take part in programs
that reward good behavior. The State and Public School Life and Health Insurance Board oversees
policies covering 63,363 state employees and their dependents along with
70,865 public school teachers and their dependents.
"If we're going to urge smokers to quit, we must support their efforts by doing things such as paying for nicotine patches," Huckabee said. "It's
not fair to ask people to help if their health plans won't cover their
cessation efforts. We must make such tools available to state employees and
to those receiving Medicaid benefits." Huckabee directed the state Department of Human Services to expand
Medicaid coverage to pay for additional smoking cessation tools such as
nicotine patches. There are almost 600,000 Arkansans receiving Medicaid
benefits.
A national study recently indicated that 26 percent of adult Medicaid recipients in Arkansas used tobacco products in 2002. This tobacco use cost
the Medicaid program an estimated $540 million. Fourteen percent of all
Medicaid costs nationally are related to tobacco use. "Those who don't smoke cost health plans less money," the governor
said. "Allocating funds for cessation programs thus saves us money in the
long run." Huckabee said the Health Department is creating kits that will include
support materials for private and public entities wanting to increase
exercise rates, decrease smoking rates and decrease obesity levels.
"We must give people the tools they really need to change their
behavior," said Dr. Fay Boozman, the Health Department director. "The steps
we've announced today head us in that direction."
--30--
|
