National Working Group for ACTTION
(Access to Coverage of Tobacco Treatment In Our Nation)
Partnership for Prevention
Shaping Policies | Improving Health
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About
One in five adult Americans smokes or uses some form of tobacco. This causes or complicates many of the Nation’s most common and costly chronic diseases (e.g., cancer, heart and lung disease, stroke, asthma) and results in the deaths of over 400,000 people every year. We are failing as a nation to provide the treatment that is needed to help these people quit their addiction to tobacco. Beyond the physical costs, failing to help people quit takes a financial toll – over $180 billion every year – a toll that U.S. taxpayers, investors and business owners can no longer afford in today’s uncertain economic environment. This is due to a combination of factors, not the least of which is the failure of public and private policies to give tobacco users full access to all the tools they need to quit. Our failure to act is costing us precious lives and money - we can and we must do better.
To this end, Action to Quit is a tobacco control initiative sponsored by Partnership for Prevention. It urges all sectors – employers, insurers, health care systems, quitlines, and policymakers – to work together to ensure that all tobacco users have access to comprehensive cessation treatments. Employers and insurers should institute policies that provide coverage without barriers for employees. Health care systems should identify patients who are tobacco users and provide them counseling and medications at every clinical encounter. Quitlines should be fully funded to expand the reach and quality of telephonic tobacco cessation services. The overarching goal of Action to Quit is to expand access to comprehensive tobacco cessation treatment to 50% of smokers by 2015 and 100% by 2020.
The ActionToQuit Network is a group of over 1000 professionals who are committed to tobacco control. Network members receive listserv privileges, announcements for webinars and podcasts, announcements of funding opportunities, and timely updates about tobacco control issues. In 2010, ActionToQuit launched its state grant program and extended awards to eleven states to advance tobacco cessation policy – Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New England states, New York and Virginia. In 2011, three more states were granted awards – Georgia, Iowa and Michigan.
For more information contact:
Sandhia Rajan at
202-375-7804 or
David Zauche at
202-375-7807
Action to Quit is supported by generous funding from Pfizer Incorporated, Pfizer Foundation, and Legacy.
In The News RSS
- Feb 22, 2012
UK Quit Smoking Campaigns Come Under Fire
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Many Americans Support Lower Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes
Read the full story - Feb 21, 2012
To Keep Research Funding, Texas Universities Consider Tobacco Ban
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Smoke Free Areas Outside Bars Could Stamp Out “Social Smoking”
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