Health Insurance Surcharges For Tobacco Use Declined Among Small Employers In 2018

Jaskaran Bains; Michael F Pesko; Johanna Catherine Maclean; Benjamin Lê Cook

doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00709

Health Insurance Surcharges For Tobacco Use Declined Among Small Employers In 2018

Health Aff (Millwood). 2020 May;39(5):871-875. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00709.

Authors

Jaskaran Bains¹, Michael F Pesko², Johanna Catherine Maclean³, Benjamin Lê Cook⁴

Affiliations

¹ Jaskaran Bains ( jsb2009@med. cornell. edu ) is a medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City.
² Michael F. Pesko is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Georgia State University, in Atlanta.
³ Johanna Catherine Maclean is an associate professor of economics at Temple University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
⁴ Benjamin Lê Cook is director of the Health Equity Research Lab at Cambridge Health Alliance, in Cambridge, and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts.

PMID: 32364876
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00709

Abstract

Use of increased premiums for tobacco users in the small-group market fell to 4.1 percent in 2018 from 17.8 percent in 2017 and 16.2 percent in 2016. This decline, possibly due to increased government oversight, occurred without any significant change in the prevalence of tobacco cessation programs. Thus, fewer workers are subject to tobacco surcharges without being provided cessation resources.

Keywords: Affordable Care Act; Deductibles; Health benefits; Health insurance exchanges; Health policy; Premiums; Small group markets; Smoking; Smoking cessation; Wellness plans.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Health Benefit Plans, Employee*
Humans
Insurance Coverage
Insurance, Health
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Tobacco Products*
Tobacco Use / epidemiology
Tobacco Use Cessation*
United States