Saw something in the paper late last week about smoking rates. After more than a decade of steady declines, it seems they've leveled off. The numbers indicate that roughly 20 percent of Americans still light up – give or take a teenager.
The experts blamed reduced spending on prevention programs and increased advertising by the tobacco industry. Either way, while most local and state governments have done their part banning the sticks inside, it just isn't hip to bash smokers anymore.
Doesn't really matter. The bottom line is that, in this new age of consumer-driven and consumer-responsible health care, smoking cessation must top the list of any reasonable wellness program. (Obesity's up there, too, but that's another column.)
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Consider this: According to a study out of the National Business Group on Health "comprehensive tobacco cessation benefits cost between $1.20 and $4.80 per employee per year. In contrast, the annual cost of tobacco use is about $3,400 per smoker." In fact, turns out smoking cessation programs are more cost-effective wellness initiatives than even disease prevention treatments for hypertension and high cholesterol.
In other shocking news, a Swedish study earlier this year found that smokers took an average of nearly eight more sick days a year than non-smokers.
Smoking cessation programs may have fallen out of the spotlight, but they need to play a central role in any wellness program. And it's our responsibility to keep banging that drum.
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