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Insurers’ Participation
Keeps Valuable Smoking Cessation Service Alive
DENVER - Thanks to the participation of many of the
largest health insurers in the state, reductions to the
Colorado Quiline tobacco cessation service have been
minimized. Due to Colorado’s budget challenges, the capacity
for the Colorado QuitLine to provide tobacco cessation
services to approximately 4,000 callers per month has been
reduced by more than 40 percent.
Many of the state’s health insurers,
acknowledging the success of the program, have stepped
forward to cover the costs of their covered population for
use of the Colorado Quitline. This decision is consistent
with legislation passed last year that requires insurers to
provide proven, effective preventive services including
tobacco cessation assistance.
Ten Year Smoking Trend Shows Significant Decline in Colorado
Friday, Mar.
13, 2009
President Obama Signs Children's Health Insurance and
Federal Tobacco Tax Increase Into Law
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009
Longmont's Inn
Between Bans Smoking in Rooms
Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009
Smoke Intrusion Issues
The death toll from secondhand tobacco
smoke is staggering. The National Cancer Institute has determined
that secondhand smoke is responsible for the early deaths of up to 50,000
Americans annually.
For every eight smokers who die from
smoking, one nonsmoker dies.
As scientific warnings
about the hazards of secondhand smoke grow stronger, condominium owners,
along with other residents of multi-unit housing, are becoming
increasingly concerned about drifting smoke from adjacent units. These
concerns are justified. U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona recently
warned in a comprehensive scientific report that breathing even a little
secondhand smoke can be harmful. Secondhand smoke (SHS) contains more than 4,000 chemicals and more than 50
carcinogens.
SHS contains more than 250 chemicals that are toxic or can cause cancer, such as hydrogen
cyanide (used in chemical weapons), carbon monoxide (found in car exhaust), butane (used
in lighter fluid), ammonia (used in household cleaners), and toluene (found in paint thinners).
UNITS Magazine Report
on Smoke-free Housing
(PDF 1901KB)
Legal
Options for Condominium Owners Exposed to Secondhand Smoke
(PDF 1266 KB)
Infiltration of Secondhand Smoke into Condominiums, Apartments, and Other
Multi-Unit Dwellings
(PDF 195 KB)
How Can TEPP Help You?
The Boulder County Tobacco Education Prevention Partnership (TEPP)
provides a wide range of support for residents, businesses, schools, and
health care facilities in the county.
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TEPP consulting services are always free. Please call 303-413-7567 to
find out how TEPP can help you and what programs may best suit your
particular needs. TEPP resources include:
- Tobacco-free/smoke-free work and school campus implementation.
- Health care policy change around tobacco use.
- Worksite wellness and how tobacco policies can save money and improve
health.
- Youth smoking education and cessation.
- Materials and information on Colorado Quitline’s telephone and
Internet service.
- Free quit smoking resources, including local community support and
brochures for general and specific populations.
- Addressing secondhand smoke and smoke intrusion issues in the
workplace and at home.
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