Cigarettes and Tobacco News

Sep 4, 2006 -- VALPARAISO | Porter hospital is backing a boost in the state cigarette tax.

Money from a 50-cent a pack tax hike could raise enough to pay for health insurance for more than three-quarters of a million Hoosiers who don't have medical benefits, according to a resolution the hospital's board of trustees adopted Wednesday.

"We believe there's no question about the impact of tobacco on people's health," Porter CEO Ron Winger said. "The tax money could be used to provide access to health care for more Indiana natives."

The tobacco tax resolution came at the same time Porter passed a sweeping 20 percent break on hospital bills for all uninsured patients, whose numbers at Porter have leaped nearly 3 percent since last year.

Porter is among 22 of the state's 167 hospitals to call for the cigarette tax increase since the Indiana Hospital and Health Association two weeks ago called on Hoosier health providers to campaign for the tobacco levy, said Bob Morr, vice president at the IHHA.

"We're just beginning. We're glad to see that Porter is on board," Morr said. "We hope by fall all 167 will pass similar resolutions."

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels last session pushed for a quarter-a-pack increase in the state's current 55-cent cigarette tax, but it was defeated by opponents who called it a regressive new tax that unfairly burdens the poor.

More than a quarter of Hoosiers smoke. They spend $1.9 million on health problems stemming from smoking. More than 18,000 infants born to smoking mothers cost more than $20 million to treat, according to statistics in the hospital resolution.

Indiana's 55.5 cents per pack cigarette duty puts it in the cellar among states that tax cigarettes, lodging it in 33rd place out of 50. In adjacent states, Illinois charges 98 cents per pack, Michigan tacks on $2 and Ohio gets $1.25.