Does Smoking Have a Place in Health Care Reform?

The Health Care Reform debate is continuing at a steady, although admittedly less intense, pace as people are becoming more vocal about their concerns and want to know more about just how it is going to affect the average American.

I’m curious about what regulations concerning smoking will come out of this process–if there will be new restrictions, new incentives to quit smoking, or nothing at all. Here are some current happenings in the smoking debate:

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Impact of Health Care Reform on Addiction Services

Ever since the United States Congress passed the Health Care Reform bill, I’ve been curious what the impact of the bill will be on alcohol/substance abuse treatment and prevention services. Slowly, more information is becoming available on this matter.

According to the Legal Action Center, all of the new plans that are created “will be required to cover mental health and substance use disorder services.” Specifically,

• Addiction and mental health benefits will be provided in the same manner as all other basic medical care.
• A national prevention council will be created with the leadership of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
• There will be a new fund for public health and prevention that will distribute $15 billion over the course of 10 years in order to promote prevention in homes, schools and workplaces.

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