Can Medicare Help You Quit Smoking?

Free counseling sessions are available for those trying to kick the habit

In the past, Medicare has covered antismoking counseling only for those who have already developed health problems from tobacco use. These sessions require a 20 percent copayment and are subject to the annual Part B deductible.

But the new benefit at last puts the horse before the cart: It's for people who have no symptoms of tobacco-related diseases but want to quit smoking before it harms their health. And there's no copay or deductible for this counseling, provided that you see a doctor or other qualified practitioner who accepts the Medicare-approved payment as full reimbursement.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable illness, responsible for an estimated one-fifth of deaths in the United States each year, and by 2015 it will have cost Medicare $800 billion over a 20-year period, according to an estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new coverage allows up to two "quit-smoking" attempts a year, and each attempt includes up to four counseling sessions — a total of eight in any 12-month period. So if you have the first session in March, for example, and the next seven sessions don't break your habit, you can start another attempt the following March and have up to seven more sessions over the next 11 months, and so on.