There is great news for Medicare recipients who smoke, but would like to quit.  According to the article “Medicare Adds Tobacco Cessation Counseling Coverage” by Terry Martin on quit.smoking.about.com, Medicare will start paying for tobacco cessation counseling as of January 1, 2011.

This new benefit is part of the Affordable Care Act and also includes other benefits such as colerectal cancer screening and mammograms.  Under this new provision, smokers who receive Medicare will be able to take advantage of four counseling sessions for every quit attempt, up to two quit attempts per year, and eight counseling sessions total.  This counseling sessions have been proven effective and should help many Medicare recipients quit smoking.

There is going to be two levels of counseling available depending on the need of the smoker.  Intermediate counseling will involve face to face contact with a counselor for 3-10 minutes per session, and intensive counseling which will be more than 10 minutes.  They type of counseling received will be left up to the patient and the doctor and the individual’s needs.  Previously, Medicare and a Medicare supplement plan did cover this type of counseling but only after a smoking-related disease was diagnosed.  This preventative measure will hopefully prevent many diseases from ever being diagnosed in the first place.