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NBCH Releases Findings on Tobacco Cessation Efforts of Health Plans 

Tobacco cessation is one of the most cost-effective activities an employer can implement to improve the health and productivity of their employees while reducing health care costs. To help employers in this effort, the non-profit National Business Coalition on Health today released its report on health plan performance related to tobacco cessation. The report finds that health plans are playing an important role in administering smoking cessation benefits and encouraging physicians and other providers to focus on smoking cessation through education, tools, and incentives.

Using data from the eValue8(TM) Request for Information (RFI) tool which examines current health plan performance for a variety of areas including tobacco cessation, the report illustrates how employers can leverage health plan services to help their employees to quit smoking. NBCH's eValue8 is the nation's leading standardized RFI tool used by employers and coalitions to measure and compare health plan performance from more than 100 health plans and health insurers. Over 100 million Americans, or two in every three Americans insured through an employer, are members of health plans that respond to eValue8. Publicly available, the report can be accessed on NBCH's website.

eValue8 establishes benchmarks, along with specific performance scores of health plans which are then used by employers and

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Workplace study: 45% of food-service workers smoke  

If you break smokers down by their occupations, the workers who are most likely to smoke are in the food-service industry, says a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Out of all U.S. full-time employees ages 18 to 64, more than 33.6 million (28% of the total) smoked cigarettes in the past month. Yet almost 45% of food-service workers reported smoking cigarettes in that time.

Construction workers and miners are the second-highest group with a rate of 42.9%.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, those who work in education, training and library fields are least likely to be smokers; their rate is 12.3%. . . .

The study could make the workplace an ideal place to educate the public on the dangers of smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the USA, says Peter Delany, director of the substance abuse agency's Office of Applied Studies.

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Fine reveals smoking laws hazy for truckers 

The fining of an Ontario truck driver for smoking in his rig has sparked questions about discrepancies between provincial and federal smoking laws, and what steps law officials must take in enforcing them.

Essex County Ontario Provincial Police pulled over a truck on Highway 401 near Windsor at about noon on Wednesday after the 48-year-old driver was seen smoking.

Some truckers say it's ridiculous that they can't smoke in their cabs and think their industry is already regulated enough. (Sandy Tymczak/CBC News)

He was fined under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, a 2006 law that prohibits smoking in enclosed workplaces and public areas such as bars and restaurants.

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Ont. man fined $305 for smoking in workplace - his truck 

Ontario's transportation minister was surprised by the first charge laid in the province against a trucker for smoking in his rig but the province's health promotion minister hopes the incident will help convince more people to butt out.

Ontario Provincial Police pulled over a truck on Highway 401 near Windsor on Wednesday when the driver was seen smoking.

Police handed out a $305 ticket because the truck is his workplace and smoking is prohibited at all workplaces in Ontario.

That's the way the law is supposed to work, said Health Promotion Minister Margarett Best.

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North Carolina state health plan to penalize smokers, obese 

The state health plan in North Carolina, home of cigarette makers Reynolds American Inc. and Lorillard Inc., will shift more expenses to smokers and those who are overweight to try to curb medical costs.

Those who use tobacco or have a body mass index above a specified level and don't quit or lose weight will be placed in an insurance plan that pays 70 percent of claims, the health system said on its Web site. Members who can prove through tests that they don't smoke and that they meet the body-mass threshold can choose an option paying 80 percent, officials said.

"We think we'll have $13 million of cost savings in the next fiscal year," Lacey Barnes, deputy executive administrator of the plan, said in an interview today from Raleigh, the state capital. "As smokers quit, there will likely be savings in medical costs."

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Obese state workers in North Carolina to pay more for health insurance  

North Carolina is set to become the second state in the country to raise insurance costs for obese state employees; and smokers in both Carolinas will pay higher costs in the coming years.

Smoker Freddy Hall lives in Morganton, North Carolina, and he believes he should pay for it. "In all eventuality, a man who does things to harm himself is going to be discriminated against eventually when it comes to health care," but he hates to see state workers be penalized, saying they have already been hit hard by budget cuts. Smokers will pay more starting in July 2010. The extremely obese will pay more in July 2011. . . .

The State Employees Association of North Carolina taking a stand against it. SEANC Communications Specialist Mary Adelaide Bell told News Channel 7, via phone, "We feel like the plans are discriminatory. They are invasive. They are unnecessary."

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N.C. to penalize obese workers, those who smoke  

North Carolina is poised to become only the second state to penalize state employees by placing them in a more expensive health insurance plan if they're obese.

Smokers will feel the drag of higher costs, too, as North Carolina and South Carolina state employees who use tobacco are slated to pay more for health insurance next year.

N.C. officials, coping with a steady uptick in health care costs for state employees each year, are aiming to improve state workers' health, which saves money in medical expenses.

"Tobacco use and poor nutrition and inactivity are the leading causes of preventable deaths in our state," said Anne Rogers, director of integrated health management with the N.C. State Employees Health Plan. "We need a healthy workforce in this state. We're trying to encourage individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles."

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Driving instructor wins smoke bid 

A driving instructor has won the right to smoke in her own car.

Lynda Wright successfully challenged a fixed penalty fine issued by Armagh Council. She had been fined twice before and faced paying up to £1,000.

Solicitor Oisin Toner said the fine was overturned because she was on her own in the car on a personal errand.

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33.6 Million Full-Time Employees In The U.S. Reported Using Cigarettes In The Past Month 

A new report reveals that 33.6 million full-time workers aged 18 to 64 (or 28 percent of persons in this category) reported that they smoked cigarettes in the past month based on combined 2006 to 2008 survey data.

The study, Cigarette Use among Adults Employed Full Time, by Occupational Category, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows that among 22 major occupational categories, the highest rate of past month cigarette use among full-time workers in this age group was found in the food preparation and serving-related occupations (44.7 percent), followed by construction work and mining (or extraction work) at 42.9 percent. By contrast, the lowest rates was seen among those employed in the education, training and library occupations (12.3 percent), as well as the life, physical and social sciences area (15.4 percent.)

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SHEPHERD: PB Tax Collector Gannon: "There's No Smoking in this Building"  

​Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon would like to charge us all with smoking. Gannon announced yesterday that she is going to stop hiring anybody who "regularly uses tobacco products" for jobs with the tax collector's office. Juice finds itself in the itchy position of agreeing with that irrepressible Republican Sid Dinnerstein on this one, who was quoted yesterday in the Sun-Sentinel:

"If you can pick on people because they smoke, you can pick on people because they eat fatty foods. ... You can go down a very long list of telling people how they should live their lives." . . .

Thanks, Anne. But you know what you can do with your job?

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Palm Beach County Tax Collector's Office Will No Longer Hire Smokers  

As of October 1, 2009, the Palm Beach County Tax Collector's Office will no longer hire applicants who've used tobacco products on a regular basis during the previous 12 months. Applicants will submit a non-smoking affidavit with their completed job application form to be considered for employment.

Tax Collector Gannon commented that "There's not much to be said for smoking - it's a major cause of respiratory and circulatory disease, it contributes to increased insurance costs for us and the Palm Beach County tax payers, it's unhealthy to be around, and expensive these days". The Palm Beach Tax Collector's Office incurs approximately $2.5 million annually in medical insurance costs. Her goal is to create a positive healthy environment in the workplace for all employees while decreasing the costs which result from tobacco use.

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Tax Collector's Office Won't Hire Tobacco Users  

The Palm Beach County Tax Collector's Office announced Wednesday it will no longer hire applicants who have used tobacco products on a regular basis during the previous 12 months.

"Infrequent use is defined in our new policy as four times a year," said Anne Gannon, Palm Beach County's tax collector.

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EDITORIAL: Hire no smokers? No way 

Ms. Gannon, whose employees are responsible for collecting $3.3 billion in taxes, employs financial experts and public outreach workers. She doesn't anticipate having a problem filling vacancies. Unfortunately, like most large employers, she's not hiring. Her policy, however, invites employees to lie. It suggests that a worker smoking two packs a day be treated the same as one who has an occasional smoke. It's true that employers can discriminate. Hooters wouldn't hire a size 16, and the Marlins wouldn't hire a sure out. But, under Ms. Gannon's smoking ban, the tax collector - a Democrat - couldn't hire President Obama.

Ms. Gannon has drawn attention to a public health issue, but in the wrong way. She doesn't make a strong enough case to enact an all-out ban on the hiring of smokers.

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• Tax Collector's Office won't be blowing smoke  

Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon has decided the butt stops here.

She said Wednesday she will no longer hire anyone who has regularly used tobacco products, saying smokers in her office stick taxpayers with paying for rising health-care costs.

Existing smokers among her 240 employees get to keep their jobs, but are being "encouraged" to quit, Gannon said. But they will pay more for health insurance: She plans to increase what those employees pay toward their coverage by as much as 20 percent.

Gannon said her goal is to cut down on rising health insurance costs and to encourage a healthier, more productive working environment.

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Cigarette Use among Adults Employed Full Time, by Occupational Category 

In Brief

* An estimated 33.6 million full-time employees aged 18 to 64 (28.4 percent of persons in that category) smoked cigarettes in the past month based on combined 2006 to 2008 data

* In 22 major occupational categories, the highest rates of past month cigarette use among full-time workers aged 18 to 64 were found in the food preparation and serving-related occupations (44.7 percent) and the construction and extraction occupations (42.9 percent); the occupational categories with the lowest rates were the education, training, and library occupations (12.3 percent) and the life, physical, and social science occupations (15.4 percent)

* Among full-time employees, the rate of past month cigarette use was higher among those aged 18 to 25 (40.1 percent) than among those in older age groups; among those aged 18 to 25, rates were especially high in the construction and extraction occupations (51.6 percent); the installation, maintenance, and repair occupations (50.3 percent); and the food preparation and serving-related occupations (50.2 percent)

In the United States, smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and contributes to the chronic illnesses of millions of individuals. To address this public health crisis, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (H.R. 1256), which granted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority over tobacco products, was enacted in June 2009. One of the stated purposes of the act is to "promote cessation to reduce disease risk and the social costs associated with tobacco-related diseases." The workplace often is seen as a prime location for smoking cessation programs. Up-to-date information on cigarette use among occupational groups may assist in the development and refinement of cessation efforts in the workplace.

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