Uncategorized

Gaps Remain in Medicaid Efforts to Help People Kick Smoking Habit

Published

10 years ago

January 8, 2016

By Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News

The 2010 federal health law has a provision that was supposed to make it easier for people on Medicaid to quit smoking. But in a number of states, it’s not, so far, having widespread success.

That’s the main takeaway from a study published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs. The law says all state Medicaid programs have to cover tobacco cessation drugs — meaning they have to pay for things like nicotine patches, Chantix, nicotine gum or Wellbutrin, when patients are using them to try to quit smoking. But it leaves states relative freedom in how they go about doing so and what conditions they place on how the benefit is applied.

That flexibility has consequences, according to the study’s authors. They examined Medicaid data and found that very few enrollees — about 10 percent nationwide in 2013 — got medicine that might help them stop smoking, even though Medicaid recipients are around twice as likely as average Americans to be smokers.

Both from a public health standpoint and an economic one, that’s a problem, said Leighton Ku, director of the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University and the study’s lead author. Figures from the U.S. surgeon general indicate about 15 percent of Medicaid’s expenses — $40 billion in 2010 — are caused by smoking. The authors estimated that number will reach $75 billion this year. By contrast, Medicaid spent $103 million in 2013 on smoking cessation drugs.

“This is something where you can improve health, you can save you money,” he said. “And we’re just not very effective at it.”

In 2013, the study found, about 1.7 million prescriptions were filled or refilled for drugs to help Medicaid patients quit smoking. That’s estimated to be enough to treat about 830,000 people — out of about 8.3 million Medicaid patients whom the researchers estimated were smokers in 2013.

Some states have done a markedly better job than others. In Minnesota, for example, almost 27 percent of smokers on Medicaid were using medications to help them quit smoking, the researchers found. In Texas, only 1 percent did.

Ideally, Ku said, 100 percent of smokers on Medicaid would get help quitting. But even the Minnesota experience — which has the highest proportion of Medicaid smokers getting those prescriptions — indicates the extent to which other states currently fall short, he said.

It’s not entirely clear why, according to the researchers. But there are a number of factors that could be at play. In some states, patients have to make co-payments toward the medication, or get prior authorization from the Medicaid program before getting the drug. Those are more or less “functional barriers” that keep Medicaid beneficiaries from getting the medicine that could help them quit, said Michael Fiore, a professor of medicine and director of the University of Wisconsin Medical School’s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention. Fiore wasn’t involved in the study.

And often, the study notes, people don’t realize Medicaid covers smoking cessation drugs.

“This is still a new thing,” Ku said. “It’s underappreciated, under-recognized.” The federal government hasn’t placed much emphasis on the regulation, he added, though he thinks more state Medicaid agencies are starting to prioritize it.

The study also notes another wrinkle. When it comes to states where smokers on Medicaid have less frequently gotten cessation drugs, most declined to expand Medicaid to cover a larger number of childless adults, a component of the health law the Supreme Court made optional in 2012.

That connection, Fiore said, is probably because the same states that declined the expansion are often ones that haven’t emphasized preventive care — though that isn’t always the case. He also pointed out that Wisconsin has actively publicized the smoking cessation benefit, despite choosing not to expand the low-income health insurance program.

When states don’t help people quit smoking, Ku said, they will ultimately face greater health care costs, since smoking helps cause diseases such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“If [those states] would expand Medicaid, more people would have access to Medicaid that would cover tobacco cessations,” he said.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Uncategorized

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

6 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

11 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

12 months ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.