BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1162 (Holden) - Medi-Cal: tobacco cessation
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|Version: July 14, 2015 |Policy Vote: HEALTH 8 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 27, 2015 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM - SUSPENSE FILE ***********
The following information is revised to reflect amendments
adopted by the committee on August 27, 2015
Bill
Summary: AB 1162 would require tobacco cessation services to be
a covered benefit in the Medi-Cal program with specified
requirements for benefits.
Fiscal
Impact:
Minor administrative costs to update existing Medi-Cal
policies for the provision of smoking cessation services
(General Fund and federal funds).
Unknown costs due to increased utilization of smoking
cessation services. Under current practice, about 30,000
Medi-Cal beneficiaries access smoking cessation services at a
total annual cost of about $4 million per year. Assuming that
the expanded benefits required in the bill result in increased
demand for smoking cessation services of 10% to 20%, the bill
AB 1162 (Holden) Page 1 of
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would result in increased costs of $400,000 to $800,000 per
year (General Fund and federal funds).
Unknown short term cost savings due to reduced smoking-related
health care costs for Medi-Cal beneficiaries. A review of a
new smoking cessation benefit in the Massachusetts Medicaid
program indicates that reducing smoking by beneficiaries led
to a net reduction in health care costs of about $2 for each
$1 spent on the program. Using the assumptions for utilization
increase above, potential cost savings of $800,000 to $1.7
million per year. The long-term health care spending impacts
of reduced tobacco use are less clear, because reduced health
care spending on smoking-related conditions will be offset by
increased longevity.
Author
Amendments: Allow utilization controls to be used for smoking
cessation services, require tobacco cessation services to
include all A and B recommendations by the United State
Preventative Services Task Force, and make other clarifying
changes.
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