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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has adopted policies to
3ensure the health of all Illinoisans with strong stances on
4smoke-free policies; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable
6death in Illinois, killing 18,300 annually; annual health care
7costs in Illinois directly caused by smoking is $5.49 billion,
8and productivity losses in Illinois caused by smoking amount to
9$5.27 billion; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The Illinois Tobacco Quitline has been funded by
11the Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement since 2001; the Master
12Tobacco Settlement Agreement is the result of a lawsuit
13settlement between 46 states and the 4 largest United States
14tobacco companies; the settlement was to be used to help states
15recoup the billions of dollars spent on tobacco-related health
16care costs and to provide tobacco prevention and cessation
17services to prevent future tobacco-related health care costs;
18and
 
19    WHEREAS, The Illinois Tobacco Quitline has been the
20cornerstone of cessation programs in Illinois to help Illinois
21residents quit smoking in order to comply with new smoke-free
22policies across Illinois; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The Illinois Tobacco Quitline is the only
2statewide cessation program that is available to all residents
3regardless of location or socioeconomic status; and
 
4    WHEREAS, In Fiscal Year 2014, the Illinois Tobacco Quitline
5answered over 96,000 calls; projections for Fiscal Year 2015
6are significantly higher, with 110,000 calls projected; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Approximately 25% of these calls came from
8Medicaid recipients; tobacco-related disease treatment for
9Medicaid recipients costs the State nearly $2 billion annually;
10and
 
11    WHEREAS, The Illinois Tobacco Quitline has a very high quit
12success rate of 43%, with average cessation programs having a
13quit success rate of around 20%; smokers who attempt to quit on
14their own have only a 4% to 5% success rate; and
 
15    WHEREAS, On July 1, 2015, over 60 public college campuses
16will become smoke-free across their entire campuses pursuant to
17Public Act 98-985; the Illinois Tobacco Quitline is the number
18one cessation service offered at each of these campuses to help
19faculty, staff, and students to quit; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Smoke-free policies are second only to cigarette

 

 

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1tax increases in encouraging smokers to quit; and
 
2    WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
3"Tips From Former Smokers", a nationwide media campaign that
4drives calls to state tobacco quitlines, is currently running
5ads that increase the number of calls to the Quitline by 240%;
6and
 
7    WHEREAS, All 92 local public health departments across the
8State promote the Quitline and refer smokers to the program on
9a daily or hourly basis; they also purchase local media to
10promote the Quitline; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Over 500 partners across the State, including
12hospitals, doctor's offices, and federally qualified health
13centers, refer patients to the Quitline on a daily or hourly
14basis; therefore, be it
 
15    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
16NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
17show our support for the Illinois Tobacco Quitline as the
18cornerstone of cessation tools for the State of Illinois.