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document
Healthcare costs around the time of smoking cessation . BACKGROUND The Affordable Care Act mandates that new insurance plans cover smoking-cessation therapy without cost-sharing . Previous cost difference estimates , which show a spike around the time of cessation , suggest premiums might rise as a result of covering these services . PURPOSE The goal of the study was to test ( 1 ) whether individuals in an RCT of pharmacotherapy and counseling for smoking cessation differed in their healthcare costs around the cessation period , and ( 2 ) whether the healthcare costs of those in the trial who successfully quit were different from a matched sample of smokers in the community . METHODS Generalized linear regression models were used to analyze healthcare cost data on individuals enrolled in a comparative effectiveness trial of cessation therapies between October 2005 and May 2007 ( 1346 total participants ; 1338 with requisite data for further analysis ) . Cost differences for the period preceding and subsequent to the cessation attempt were assessed by trial participants ' 12-month sustained quit status . Healthcare cost differences between sustained quitters and a sample of community-dwelling smokers , matched to these quitters on the basis of health services use around the time trial participant enrolled and by demographics , were also examined . Data were analyzed in 2011 . RESULTS All three groups had a spike in cost associated with the index clinic visit . Regression results revealed little difference in healthcare costs by quit status for trial participants until the sixth quarter post-quit . By that quarter , continuous sustained quitters cost $ 541 ( p < 0.001 ) less than continuing smokers . Continuous sustained quitters cost less than their matched community- dwelling smokers in almost every quarter observed . The cost difference ranged from $ 270 ( p=0.01 ) during the quarter of quit , to $ 490 ( p < 0.01 ) in the 6th quarter after quitting . CONCLUSIONS The inclusion of smoking-cessation therapy does not appear to raise short-term healthcare costs . By the sixth quarter post-quit , sustained quitters were less costly than trial participants who continued smoking .
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Intervention_Educational
smoking-cessation therapy
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Intervention_Pharmacological
pharmacotherapy
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Intervention_Educational
counseling
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Intervention_Educational
smoking-cessation therapy
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Outcome_Other
healthcare cost data
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Outcome_Other
Cost differences
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Outcome_Other
Healthcare cost differences
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Outcome_Other
healthcare costs
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Outcome_Other
cost
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Outcome_Other
cost
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Outcome_Other
short-term healthcare costs
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Participant_Condition
individuals enrolled in a comparative effectiveness trial of cessation therapies between October 2005 and May 2007 ( 1346 total participants ; 1338 with requisite data for further analysis ) .