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Holden’s Bill 1696 Clears the Way for Low Income Smokers to get Better Help

State Assemblyman Chris Holden’s bill 1696, which cleared the Senate Appropriation Committee last month, will make it easier for California’s low income residents to quit smoking.

The bill requires tobacco cessation medications, counseling, and assessments to be covered for Medi-Cal patients.  Besides the detrimental health effects, smoking takes an $18.1 billion toll on California annually, according to a University of California, San Francisco study.

“Smoking continues to be the leading preventable cause of the death in the United States” said Holden. “We have an opportunity to save lives and money with this bill.”

As excerpted from Los Angeles Sentinel