Does State Medicaid Coverage of Smoking Cessation Treatments Affect Quitting?
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Kostova D, Xu X, Babb S, McMenamin SB, King BA.
Does State Medicaid Coverage of Smoking Cessation Treatments Affect Quitting?
Health Serv Res. 2018 May 27. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12979. [Epub ahead of print]
OBJECTIVE: Cigarette smoking and smoking-related diseases disproportionately affect low-income populations. Health insurance coverage of smoking cessation treatments is increasingly used to encourage quitting. We assess the relationship between state Medicaid coverage of smoking cessation treatments and past-year quitting in adult Medicaid beneficiaries. DATA SOURCES: 2009-2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS); 2008-2013 indicators of state Medicaid coverage of smoking cessation treatments. STUDY DESIGN: A triple-differencing specification based on differences in Medicaid cessation coverage policies across states as well as within-state differences between Medicaid beneficiaries and a counterfactual group of low-income adults not covered by Medicaid.
DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Individual-level NHIS data with restricted geographical identifiers were merged with state-year Medicaid coverage indicators. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Combined coverage of both cessation counseling and medications in state Medicaid programs was associated with increased quitting, with an estimated mean increase in past-year quitting of 3.0 percentage points in covered Medicaid beneficiaries relative to persons without coverage. CONCLUSIONS: Combined coverage of both smoking cessation counseling and medication by state Medicaid programs could help reduce cigarette smoking among Medicaid beneficiaries.
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