Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report
In his speech of February 4, Governor Steve Beshear (D) said his proposal to supplement state dollars of budget deficit of 456 million “spells out priorities for investment in” basic health care for our most vulnerable populations, among other things. He said that providing health care “is not only a moral obligation, but one that bears the economic performance.” He added: “But for protect our priorities, we need the targeted application of new sources of income, which, I propose that we get a significant increase in taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. ” According to Beshear, Kentucky has “a cigarette tax that is the fourth lowest in the entire nation”, but “the health of tobacco use is devastating.” He said: “We spend $ 1.5 billion per year on health problems associated with smoking, including $ 487 million in Medicaid costs alone - a cost, paradoxically, that more than matches our current deficit . Beshear said: “The people of this state support a significant increase in tobacco taxes (Beshear speech text, 2 / 4).