The 5-year Million Hearts Campaign hopes to help millions of Americans improve their heart health by preventing and treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and tobacco use.
Some companies are also penalizing employees who don’t give up cigarettes by hitting them with higher health insurance premiums.
In the previous five years, the 7 percent of retailers were caught selling tobacco to underage teens. This year the number caught jumped to 15 percent of the time.
Hospitals are promoting the scans without warning patients of the potential downsides of the test, critics say.
Washington’s Tobacco Quit Line will no longer provide services to the general population, but King County residents and some other groups can get help other sources.
The goal of the study, called WebQuit, is to improve the effectiveness of online smoking-cessation programs. The study is open to adult smokers nationwide. Participation is free to eligible individuals.
Washington residents who are ready to quit smoking can now receive at least two weeks of free nicotine patches or gum if they call the state Tobacco Quitline in May or June. People without insurance can also get eight weeks of nicotine replacement therapy. Those on Medicaid are already eligible for a 12 week supply.
The program is offering states $100 million to reward Medicaid recipients who make an effort to quit smoking or keep their weight, blood pressure or cholesterol levels in check.
There has been a substantial drop in both smoking and alcohol use among Washington youth, according to a survey of more than 212,000 students in the state’s public schools.
Electronic cigarettes are drawing heavy media and marketing attention, but it’s not known whether they help smokers cut down or quit.
“They were pretty poor. There wasn’t one I thought I could recommend to a smoker.”
The National Cancer Institute has identified 5 essential steps that smokers can take to help them quit.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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