Health insurers will pay for smokers to make three attempts to quit under new guidelines that came into force on January 1.

Figures show that smokers who join a support programme are six times more likely to stay off cigarettes for a year – 24% rather than 4%. For those that sign up for the most intensive programmes the success rate is three in 10.

Anti-smoking campaigners and doctors hope that expanding the compensation to three tries per year will increase the chances that people will quit permanently.

Although the number of smokers has steadily declined over the last 35 years, 18% of the population still smokes and the proportion rises to 30% for people with the lowest level of education.

“When you consider that it takes six attempts on average for someone to stop for good, it’s good if they can do it three times a year,” lung specialist Wanda de Kanter told NRC.

A stop smoking course costs around €400, but this is vastly outweighed by the potential savings to the healthcare system, campaigners argue.

Cancer diagnosis

The cancer research institute IKNL has calculated that 120,000 diagnoses of lung, bladder and oesophageal cancer could be saved if the smoking rate is cut to 5% of the population by 2032.

If nobody smoked, it would save €2.4 billion in medical costs, including medicines and operations to treat damaged arteries. There would also be fewer amputations and heart bypass procedures caused by circulation problems.

“Motivation is everything,” quitting coach Pauline Hasbroek told NRC. “If they want to stop in August and they have to wait until January because that’s the next time they can claim for an attempt, there’s a chance they won’t want to by then.”

Not smoking also has financial benefits, with the average packet of cigarettes costing €11.10, but doctors admit that people are less likely to quit if they have to pay for support programmes out of their own pocket.

Joris Dullaert, who runs WeQuit, a network of psychologists who support smokers who want to stop, said: “Sometimes I think: you save so much on cigarettes, surely you can find that €400? But people pay insurance premiums and expect their insurance to cover it.”