Seniors who smoke and have Medicare coverage are, too often, not told to quit.
Nearly 30% of Medicare recipients who smoke are not urged to quit by their managed-care physicians, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study found that close to 13% of patients in Medicare managed-care programs are smokers. Under government guidelines, these programs are suppose to encourage patients to
give up smoking.
Minority groups are most often overlooked. More than 72% of whites are urged to stop smoking compared to 68% of blacks, 65% of Hispanics and 54% of Asian-Americans.
Language barriers account for some of the discrepancies, says Dr. David Arday, an epidemiologist with the Health Care Financing Administration which runs Medicare. The CDC also
cautioned that some of the patients surveyed may have gone to the doctor for an emergency, when talking about smoking is not a priority.
The study surveyed more than 167,000 people in 1998.
(CDC, http://www.cdc.gov)