Blue Cross’ doctor says smoking ban will save lives, reduce health care costs

Author: Rick Lewis

Author: Rick Lewis

Michigans workplace smoking ban will help to save hundreds of lives from preventable heart attacks, strokes and upper respiratory diseases and save taxpayers and insured individuals millions of dollars, said Thomas Simmer, M.D., chief medical officer with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in Detroit.

After more than a decade of debate, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the law Friday at the Michigan Brewing Co. in Webberville.

The ban, which goes into effect in May, applies to bars, restaurants and work places, except for the Detroit casinos, cigar bars and tobacco specialty stores.

Nearly 15,000 die each year from their own smoking, said Simmer. Another 1,300 to 2,400 die each year from second-hand smoke in Michigan, he said.

Many of these people are patrons and employees who cant escape the smoke, Simmer said.

Smoking increases annual health care costs in Michigan by $3.4 billion, including $1.1 billion in additional Medicaid costs, according to the state Department of Community Health.

Medicaid recipients who smoke seek physician care and are hospitalized for a wide variety of smoking-related maladies, including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, asthma, heart attacks and strokes, Simmer said.

Saving tax dollars is an important thing, Simmer said.

But the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association, which was opposed to the smoking ban, said it would cost the state thousands of jobs as bar patrons who smoke will spend their money elsewhere.

On the other hand, Simmer said businesses also lose $3.8 billion in lost worker productivity because of workers who smoke, he said.

The burden business has to pay in lost productivity is very high, Simmer said. We can do better.

Several Blue Cross products, including Healthy Blue Living, offer premium discounts for people who quit smoking.

We expect an uptick in people seeking wellness-type insurance products that have a smoking cessation feature, he said.

Simmer said Blue Cross is studying the health care cost impact of people who have quit smoking in its Healthy Blue product line.

Some 18 months after Pueblo, Colo., enacted a smoking ban in 2003, hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped by 27 percent while admissions in neighboring towns without smoking bans showed no change.

We dont have any hard data yet, but we believe it has reduced costs, he said.

Earlier this week, the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation in Ann Arbor issued a report that concluded Michigans personal health care spending is the lowest of any other Midwest state.

I believe this (smoking ban) will help us continue to experience a lower health care cost trend than other Great Lake states, Simmer said.About the Author:

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