MHS encourages you to quit using tobacco products or smoking today. The use of tobacco products is an addiction. Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive and can make it very hard, but not impossible, to quit. More than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are from the use of tobacco products.

Reasons to Quit

• Using tobacco harms not just the user, but also family members, co-workers and others who are exposed to the tobacco.
• Among infants to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000 cases of breathing illnesses and pneumonia each year.
• Secondhand smoke from a parent’s cigarette increases a child’s chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions.
• Pregnant women who use tobacco are more likely to deliver babies whose weights are too low for the babies’ good health. If all women quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not die each year.

Benefits of Quitting

• Your breath smells better.
• Your cough goes away.
• Quitting the use of tobacco products cuts the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, and other respiratory illnesses.
• Quitting smoking saves money. A pack-a-day smoker, who pays $2 per pack, can expect to save more than $700 per year.

How to Quit

• MHS encourages members to use the Indiana Tobacco Quitline. The Indiana Tobacco Quitline helps people stop using tobacco.
• The Quitline provides counseling over the telephone for free to help you quit smoking.
• You may speak to someone seven days a week, and services are available in different languages.
• Call the Quitline today at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669).

Talk to your doctor about stopping the use of tobacco products. Medicaid pays for all of the drugs that are FDA approved to help people stop using tobacco products. Medicaid will also pay for counseling. This must be arranged through your doctor.

Ask your doctor for help today. Or call the Indiana Quitline at 1-800-QUITNOW.