http://www.hrbenefitsalert.com/smoking-bans-get-mixed-review/ Daily dose of benefits news and know-how Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:30:38 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 http://www.hrbenefitsalert.com/smoking-bans-get-mixed-review/comment-page-1/#comment-1716 R. B. Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:06:00 +0000 http://www.hrbenefitsalert.com/?p=208#comment-1716 I agree it's beneficial if the health plan also covers the cost of smoking cessation (or some independent program is available) if your only goal is to reduce health plan costs (a worthy goal!). Just banning smoking isn't going to suffice. However, we also have an obligation to provide our employees with a healthy work environment, so banning smoking in the facility is also about protecting the health of non-smokers. To me, that's the first priority. Second priority is to help and encourage workers to quit so they will experience better overall health...which helps everyone in the long run. I agree it’s beneficial if the health plan also covers the cost of smoking cessation (or some independent program is available) if your only goal is to reduce health plan costs (a worthy goal!). Just banning smoking isn’t going to suffice. However, we also have an obligation to provide our employees with a healthy work environment, so banning smoking in the facility is also about protecting the health of non-smokers. To me, that’s the first priority. Second priority is to help and encourage workers to quit so they will experience better overall health…which helps everyone in the long run.

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