Tobacco Addiction Treatment and the Low-income – Massachusetts

With aid, Mass. poor cut smoking, By Stephen Smith, November 18, 2009, Boston Globe: “Lower income Massachusetts smokers have dramatically abandoned their habit amid a major state campaign that vigorously promotes and pays for tobacco addiction treatment, according to a report scheduled to be released this morning. Smoking rates among the poor plummeted 26 percent in the first two years of the ongoing state program, a striking result that is already drawing national attention to the effort. Officials targeted a population that historically had the highest smoking rates in Massachusetts. The study, issued by the Department of Public Health, found early indications that the tobacco cessation efforts – aimed at patients enrolled in the state’s medical insurance for the poor, MassHealth – are reaping immediate health benefits…”