Preferred Employer Network
With health care costs squeezing corporate profits, it is increasingly difficult to manage growth and overhead expenses. The unrelenting rise in health care costs is likely to continue to wreak havoc on the bottom line. A first step toward health care cost containment is to reduce tobacco use in Kentucky. Employers willing to assist their employees with tobacco cessation can reduce tobacco use in the workplace and improve the health and wellness of their employees.
Tobacco dependency is the single most preventable cause of chronic disease and death in the United States, causing more than 435,000 deaths each year. Smoking puts both the smoker and the nonsmoker at risk. Tobacco use is a known cause of multiple cancers, heart disease, stroke, and complications of pregnancy, respiratory diseases and many other diseases.
Despite these health dangers and the public’s awareness of these dangers, tobacco use remains high. In the United States each year, $75 billion is spent on healthcare as a result of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke and $82 billion is spent in lost productivity in the workplace. Overall, 26% of adults in Kentucky smoke.
Quitting tobacco at any age can have positive results on an employee’s health and productivity. Seventy percent of tobacco users say they want to quit; however, those who are tobacco dependent lack the support they need to overcome their addiction.
The Kentucky Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program is working with the Kentucky Association of Health Underwriters (KYAHU) to help Kentucky employers encourage their employees to quit tobacco use and stay tobacco free. This toolkit for the Preferred Employer Network will help employers create a safe toxin free environment for all employees and provide tips to support and encourage their employees who use tobacco products in quitting through proven tobacco cessation methods.
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Health Underwriters |
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Preferred Employer Network
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Kentucky Employers |
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Preferred Employer Network
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