Tobacco tax backers join forces on ballot

The two Missouri-based organizations have joined forces behind a single proposal to fund smoking prevention and health care access on November's ballot.

The new initiative would utilize the proposed increase in tobacco taxes to fund smoking prevention programs and access to health care.

The new initiative was submitted to the Missouri secretary of state Jan. 12 for formal approval, and the unified group will begin collecting signatures in the near future. The essential elements of the agreement are:

o The creation of a Healthy Future Trust Fund, which would not be subject to annual appropriation decisions by the General Assembly, but would be accountable to the public through an annual report issued by the state auditor.

o A tax increase of 4 cents on every cigarette sold in Missouri, and a 20 percent increase on all other tobacco products. Of funds raised, 17.5 percent would go toward tobacco use prevention, education, and cessation and 82.5 percent would go toward health care access and treatment for poor and uninsured Missourians;

o Of the money used for health care access and treatment, 35.25 percent is for medically necessary health care programs and services for Missourians whose incomes are less than 200 percent of the federal poverty limit. This includes services provided through Missouri Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or their successor programs;

o Another 35.25 percent will be spent for primary care and specialist physician services rendered to Missouri Medicaid beneficiaries;

o 15.25 percent will be spent to support Missouri trauma centers and hospital emergency rooms for services provided to Missouri Medicaid beneficiaries and the uninsured;

o 13 percent will provide additional funding for safety net clinics, including public health clinics and community mental health centers; and

o 1.25 percent is allocated for emergency ambulance services provided to Missouri Medicaid beneficiaries.

“This agreement strengthens our proposal and the prospects for its passage,” said Cindy Erickson, spokesman for the Committee for a Healthy Future, in a news release. “We look forward to working with the members of the Alliance on our identical objectives.”

According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, at http://tobaccofreekids.org, smoking contributes substantially to the health care costs of the state's low-income citizens, whose smoking rates are significantly higher than those of the general public. Each Missouri household spends $566 per year to cover health care costs for smoking-related illnesses.

At 17 cents per pack, Missouri currently has the second lowest tobacco tax, and one of the highest smoking rates, in the nation.

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