Insurance will pay for smokers to quit
By Cai Wenjun |
April 18, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A DECISION to include anti-smoking drugs and consultations in the nation's public health insurance system has sparked controversy.
The Ministry of Health move is intended to encourage smokers who want to quit to seek professional treatment and, as a result, reduce the incidence of smoking-related cancers and respiratory and heart diseases.
Research by Peking University found that smoking-related diseases cost China up to 300 billion yuan (US$47.6 billion) every year.
But while medical experts welcome the policy, some people are asking why non-smokers' contributions to the insurance fund should be used to help smokers give up their habit.
"Non-smokers will not only suffer passive smoking but also pay the bills for smokers. It is unfair," was one comment on microblogging service Weibo.
At a meeting discussing strategies for chronic non-contagious diseases, Health Minister Chen Zhu said China's health insurance system would cover smoking-cessation therapies, including anti-smoking drugs and consultations.
Smoking is the top preventable cause of illness and death in China, which has 350 million smokers and an estimated 600 million passive smoking sufferers. Cigarette smoke causes 80 percent of all lung cancer cases and kills more than 1.2 million people in the nation every year, according to official statistics.
Dr Pan Jue, at the anti-smoking clinic at Shanghai's Zhongshan Hospital, said: "Awareness of remedies for tobacco dependence is still low in China, the world's biggest cigarette producer and consumer. Actually, it is a chronic and addictive disease."
Many countries, including Japan, the United States, Britain and Australia, list tobacco addiction as a disease and include the cost of helping smokers quit in their insurance schemes.
However, Zhu Hengpeng, a researcher with the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said more evaluation was needed. He said the government should be clear about whether smoking control was the most urgent public health issue given limited resources and should identify whether the smokers were rich or poor.
Jiang Yuan, vice director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control's smoking control office, said that paying for anti-smoking treatment was definitely cost-effective. "For instance, in the treatment of coronary heart disease, investing in smoking control is more effective than investing in controlling blood fat and blood pressure," he said.
Health experts believe many of China's millions of smokers are unaware that tobacco addiction is a disease requiring medical treatment. Many think it is just a bad habit and that they don't need medical advice or medication.
"They wrongly consider that to quit is entirely a matter of willpower and perseverance," Pan said. "Very few can stop smoking without treatment while most need medication to prevent withdrawal symptoms."
Pan said the cost of anti-smoking drugs was around 2,000 yuan over three months. "The price prevents some patients from buying the medicine," Pan said.
She said including anti-smoking drugs in the insurance system would encourage more people to quit. "The fewer smokers, the less chance of passive smoking," she said.
"Investment in the early stages of health protection and disease prevention is more effective than paying for the treatment of the subsequent diseases."
The Ministry of Health move is intended to encourage smokers who want to quit to seek professional treatment and, as a result, reduce the incidence of smoking-related cancers and respiratory and heart diseases.
Research by Peking University found that smoking-related diseases cost China up to 300 billion yuan (US$47.6 billion) every year.
But while medical experts welcome the policy, some people are asking why non-smokers' contributions to the insurance fund should be used to help smokers give up their habit.
"Non-smokers will not only suffer passive smoking but also pay the bills for smokers. It is unfair," was one comment on microblogging service Weibo.
At a meeting discussing strategies for chronic non-contagious diseases, Health Minister Chen Zhu said China's health insurance system would cover smoking-cessation therapies, including anti-smoking drugs and consultations.
Smoking is the top preventable cause of illness and death in China, which has 350 million smokers and an estimated 600 million passive smoking sufferers. Cigarette smoke causes 80 percent of all lung cancer cases and kills more than 1.2 million people in the nation every year, according to official statistics.
Dr Pan Jue, at the anti-smoking clinic at Shanghai's Zhongshan Hospital, said: "Awareness of remedies for tobacco dependence is still low in China, the world's biggest cigarette producer and consumer. Actually, it is a chronic and addictive disease."
Many countries, including Japan, the United States, Britain and Australia, list tobacco addiction as a disease and include the cost of helping smokers quit in their insurance schemes.
However, Zhu Hengpeng, a researcher with the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said more evaluation was needed. He said the government should be clear about whether smoking control was the most urgent public health issue given limited resources and should identify whether the smokers were rich or poor.
Jiang Yuan, vice director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control's smoking control office, said that paying for anti-smoking treatment was definitely cost-effective. "For instance, in the treatment of coronary heart disease, investing in smoking control is more effective than investing in controlling blood fat and blood pressure," he said.
Health experts believe many of China's millions of smokers are unaware that tobacco addiction is a disease requiring medical treatment. Many think it is just a bad habit and that they don't need medical advice or medication.
"They wrongly consider that to quit is entirely a matter of willpower and perseverance," Pan said. "Very few can stop smoking without treatment while most need medication to prevent withdrawal symptoms."
Pan said the cost of anti-smoking drugs was around 2,000 yuan over three months. "The price prevents some patients from buying the medicine," Pan said.
She said including anti-smoking drugs in the insurance system would encourage more people to quit. "The fewer smokers, the less chance of passive smoking," she said.
"Investment in the early stages of health protection and disease prevention is more effective than paying for the treatment of the subsequent diseases."
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