Receipt of and Spending on Cessation Medication Among US Adults With Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, 2010 and 2017.

OBJECTIVE

Studies examining the use of smoking cessation treatment and related spending among enrollees with employer-sponsored health insurance are dated and limited in scope. We assessed changes in annual receipt of and spending on cessation medications approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) among tobacco users with employer-sponsored health insurance from 2010 to 2017.

METHODS

We analyzed data on 439 865 adult tobacco users in 2010 and 344 567 adult tobacco users in 2017 from the IBM MarketScan Commercial Database. We used a negative binomial regression to estimate changes in receipt of cessation medication (number of fills and refills and days of supply). We used a generalized linear model to estimate spending (total, employers', and out of pocket). In both models, covariates included year, age, sex, residence, and type of health insurance plan.

RESULTS

From 2010 to 2017, the percentage of adult tobacco users with employer-sponsored health insurance who received any cessation medication increased by 2.4%, from 15.7% to 16.1% ( < .001). Annual average number of fills and refills per user increased by 15.1%, from 2.5 to 2.9 ( < .001) and days of supply increased by 26.4%, from 81.9 to 103.5 ( < .001). The total annual average spending per user increased by 53.6%, from $286.40 to $440.00 ( < .001). Annual average out-of-pocket spending per user decreased by 70.9%, from $70.80 to $20.60 ( < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Use of smoking cessation medications is low among smokers covered by employer-sponsored health insurance. Opportunities exist to further increase the use of cessation medications by promoting the use of evidence-based cessation treatments and reducing barriers to coverage, including out-of-pocket costs.