Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Smoking Rates Fall To Lowest Point But Numbers Mask Troubling Trend For Poor Americans
The New York Times: U.S. Smoking Rate Declines, But Poor Remain At Higher Risk
Smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, continued to decline last year, federal health authorities reported Thursday, with the share of American adults who smoke dropping to 16.8 percent, down from 17.8 percent in 2013. Smoking has been one of the brightest public health successes of recent history. Nearly half of all Americans smoked in the 1960s, but a broad push against the habit, starting with the surgeon general’s warning in 1964, helped bring rates down. The rate has dropped by about a fifth since 2005, when it was 21 percent. (Tavernise, 11/12)
Los Angeles Times: Adult Cigarette Smoking Reaches New Low -- But Stays Stubbornly High Among Some Groups
In 1965, 42.4% of American adults smoked, and though the habit's prevalence has declined steadily, reducing the ranks of the addicted has become an increasingly uphill battle. The CDC report underscores that the smoking habit has been hardest to extinguish among several categories of American adults -- most notably, the poor. Only 12.9% of adults who have private health insurance continue to smoke cigarettes, but 29.1% of those on Medicaid, the federally funded insurance program for low-income Americans, were current smokers in 2014, the report said. Current smokers make up 27.9% of the uninsured. (Healy, 11/12)
McClatchy: Feds Move To Make Public Housing A Tobacco Smoke-Free Zone
An Obama administration plan to ban indoor smoking at public housing properties has drawn praise from health experts and concern from others who fear violations of the policy would cause some low-income tenants to lose their homes. A rule proposed Thursday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development would require the nation’s 3,100 public housing agencies to ban lit tobacco products – including cigarettes, cigars and pipes – in all homes, indoor common areas and administrative offices in their developments. (Pugh, 11/12)
The Washington Post: HUD Proposes Smoking Ban In Public Housing, Citing Dangers Of Secondhand Smoke
In its proposed rule, announced Thursday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development would require more than 3,100 public housing agencies to go smoke-free within several years. The agencies must design policies prohibiting lit tobacco products in all living units, indoor common areas, administrative offices and in all outdoor areas near housing and administrative office buildings, HUD officials said. (Markon and Rein, 11/12)
