It Works! Paying Smokers To Quit

Researchers say they were successful in getting smokers to quit smoking when they offered a cash reward. This was the results found at the end of a survey that proves incentives can modify behavior, and offering cash to quit smoking works.

This is the largest quit smoking survey ever done, and it is rather timely. Companies, schools and other institutions are paying people to lose weight. The quit smoking survey findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week.

According to statistics, about 20% of all U.S. adults smoke, down from 25% 10 years ago. It is believed that smoking is one of the biggest causes of premature death, killing almost half a million Americans annually. The addiction to nicotine prevents smokers from quitting, researchers say each year only 3% of smokers succeed in quitting permanently.

The study involved 878 General Electric Co. employees from all over the country between 2005 and 2006. These smokers smoked on average, a pack of cigarettes a day. Participants were divided into two groups, one group would receive cash to quit smoking, and the other group would not.

A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania led the quit smoking survey. The participants received $750 in cash to quit smoking. The results concluded that if you offer enough money to people to quit smoking, they will.

Long-term abstinence was rewarded additionally, as the cash was spread out. Participants enrolling in a smoking-cessation program got $100; they received another $250 if they stopped smoking 6 months after they enrolled in the study; and $400 for remaining smoke-free for an additional 6 months.

To prove that the smokers had actually quit during the time of the study, participants were asked to submit to urine or saliva tests so their claims could be validated.

Since the study has concluded, researchers interviewed the group of participants who were offered cash to track their progress. A total of 9.4% of the group that received cash to quit smoking were still abstaining, compared to just 3.6% of those who did not receive cash to quit smoking.

However, some experts doubt giving cash to quit smoking works. In the past, studies with fewer participants were done that showed very little proof that giving cash rewards aids in getting smokers to quit.

The cost to business is huge. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded this study and says smoking costs companies $3,400 per employee. Aiding to increased absenteeism and decreased productivity. Not to mention an increase in health-care bills.

GE likes the positive results from the cash to quit smoking study. They're putting together a cash reward plan to quit smoking for their employees scheduled to launch next year. As a member of the research team, chief medical officer for GE Robert Galvin says his company hopes to launch the plan to all 152,000 employees.