Health Policy: Smoking Ban in the US Workplaces - Essay Example

"Health Policy: Smoking Ban in the US Workplaces" is an outstanding example of a paper on the health system.
Health policy refers to the plans, decisions, and actions taken to achieve precise health care goals within a community (Porche 2012). In this paper, a health policy issue in the workplace is selected and analyzed. The analysis entails current problems associated with the policy, statistics depicting the problem within the workplace, and cost, quality, and access associated with the policy.

Smoking Ban in US Workplaces

As bans on smoking transverse the USA work environments, an escalating number of employers, mainly in health facilities such as hospitals are also putting bans on smokers (Koch, 2012). These corporations do not hire candidates whose urine tests positive for nicotine usage, whether smokeless tobacco, cigarettes, or patches. Such smoking-free hiring policies, premeditated to encourage health and decrease insurance premiums, took effect recently in Texas especially at the Baylor Health Care System, and to be affected in Ohio’s Hollywood Casino in Toledo when it opens (Koch, 2012).

Every year, smoking or introduction to secondhand smoke causes over 443,000 untimely deaths and costs the state over $193 billion in lost productivity and health bills, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The CDC acknowledges that over 19% of American adults smoked the previous year, downward from about 42% in 1965 (CDC 2014).

According to Cindy Stutts of Bon Secours, the policy’s bottom line will benefit the nation since health care costs for smokers are three to four thousand dollars more every year than for non-smokers (Curley, 2012). In addition, Stutts says there is also an impact on efficiency since smokers take more breaks.

Conclusion

This is a health problem that affects the labor force and health care of the nation. However, there are many debates about its legibility. It is obvious cost, quality, and access associated with the smoking problem is public knowledge (Swain et al 2014).