Smoking kills. Everyone knows that. As a physician and University of California professor, I don’t have to tell most of my patients that smoking is dangerous to their health and life. Everyone has lost a friend or family member to smoking tobacco cigarettes. I lost my father to smoking. Every smoker understands the risks they take, but it is my experience that the majority of smokers really want to break their habit. The problem is that research shows us that the term “smoking habit” is a misnomer. Smoking is more than a bad habit — it’s truly a medical disease with physical and emotional addiction. Quitting requires more than willpower alone. Caregivers see this time and time again. All smokers are addicted to nicotine. The majority tries to quit yet, despite their best intentions and the well-meaning efforts of their doctors, the majority fails.

When millions of Californians still smoke and thousands die every year because of it, we need to take a hard look at how we can improve this situation. As the politicians in Sacramento debate cutting Medi-Cal fees for doctors and limiting services for patients we need to take a hard look at how we can improve care while shepherding tax dollars. By offering comprehensive smoking cessation benefits we can do just that. Helping people quit not only saves lives, but also saves us the cost of treating the disease and illness that smoking causes.

Currently, Medi-Cal (the state’s health insurance program for the poor, disabled and elderly) requires doctors to promote counseling first before we can prescribe the latest FDA–approved smoking cessation medications. Counseling may work for some, may not for others. A combination of both medication and counseling can double the success rates. Doctors should have the freedom and flexibility to advise their patients on what may work best for their individual needs and prescribe accordingly.

Assembly Bill 2662 (Dymally, D-Compton) makes this clear. The legislation calls for increasing awareness, for doctors and patients, about the options available for smoking-cessation treatments. While the vast majority of anti-smoking efforts seek to discourage smoking, this needed legislation will give smokers better access to information and tools that they need to quit smoking.

America spends 95 cents of every health care dollar on treating disease rather than preventing it.

If we were to declare a “War on Smoking,” we would not only save lives, but we would also save our economy. Californians are currently paying more than $8 billion every year in health care costs related to smoking — an average of $700 a year for each family. Businesses also suffer. The average smoker costs his or her employer more than $1,700 in lost productivity and more than $1,600 in excess medical expenditures, translating to more than $3,400 per year per smoker.

Smoking causes over 37,000 deaths in California and is a leading cause of lost worker-production time — more than time lost due to alcohol abuse or family emergencies. What’s more, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that smoking rates have not declined nationwide since 2004. It’s ironic that one of our least-regulated consumer products is responsible for the most preventable death and disease in California and across America. Some studies have shown that if used according to the “manufacturer” (the tobacco industry) smoking will shorten the lifespan of 50 percent of those who use it.

The bottom line is clear: we can and should do more. Let’s give smokers access to all available FDA-approved treatments that work. A recent study by the President’s Cancer Council, including cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, recommends that tobacco-cessation services and medications be a standard part of all health insurance. Let’s start by doing it right with Medi-Cal, the health insurance all taxpayers pay for and we all have a stake in. We cannot afford not to.

Samuel Louie is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis.