By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Nov. 30
The anticipated push for a higher Kansas cigarette tax by a coalition seeking funds for a cancer prevention initiative might not happen in the coming legislative session, according to the group”s chairman.
The Kansas Cancer Partnership wants $50 million to $60 million earmarked annually to pay for the state”s
Comprehensive Cancer Prevention and Control plan
. The group was going to propose at least a 50-cent increase in the state”s 79-cent-per-pack tax.
But Dr. Gary Doolittle, the partnership”s chairman and a professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center, said the coalition may not have laid sufficient groundwork to be successful in the coming session, which begins Jan. 8.
“My feeling is we may do ourselves some harm if we proceed this session,” said Doolittle, who lost both parents to lung cancer. “We will try to keep the (cancer) plan in front of the Legislature while we build our partnership.”
Doolittle said the partnership”s policy committee will meet later this month for a final decision on the tax increase proposal.
The cancer control and prevention plan was unveiled in March 2005. It would increase spending for cancer screening, prevention and treatment for cancer victims who don”t qualify for the state”s Medicaid program but can”t afford private health insurance. The plan also calls for a dramatic increase in funding for smoking cessation and prevention programs.
“A lot of effort went into the development of this plan,” Doolittle said. “We”ve got to identify a way to fund it.”
Each year, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, nearly 12,000 Kansans are diagnosed with cancer and 5,000 die from the disease.
Lung cancer and other diseases directly related to tobacco use claim the lives of 4,000 Kansans every year, according to
KDHE”s 2005 Tobacco Control Report
.
Governor also wary
Prior to her November re-election, Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said she was open to considering an increase in the tobacco tax to fund state health care and anti-smoking programs. But Missouri voters rejected a cigarette tax increase there and after the election Sebelius said she wouldn”t take the lead on any tax increase proposal.
“We”re not looking at a tax increase,” Sebelius said at a news conference the day after her re-election to a second four-year term.
Sebelius” press secretary, Nicole Corcoran, said the governor didn”t believe the Legislature was ready to embrace a cigarette tax increase but that the governor would consider the coalition”s proposed tax increase, should the group decide to move forward with it.
“While the proposal is something she would certainly look at given her belief in helping Kansans improve their health, the climate in the Legislature is not one that would be supportive of a tobacco tax increase,” Corcoran said. In 2004, Sebelius sought an increase in the tax on all tobacco products to pay for a proposed expansion of state health care programs for low-income children and working adults. The Legislature never seriously considered the proposal.
If the coalition decides to lobby for the tax increase, it likely would be opposed by the tobacco industry and some retailers.
But Tom Palace, director of the association that represents Kansas convenience store owners, said it was possible a proposal could be drafted that wouldn”t generate opposition from his group.
“More than likely we would not support it, but at the same time, if there”s a good reason to raise the tax, we would need to look at it and go from there,” Palace said.
“Pittance” on prevention
One of the cancer partnership”s main goals is more money for effective anti-smoking programs. Currently, Kansas spends $1 million a year on such programs, only 5.5 percent of the $18 million minimum recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We”re letting the faucet continue to run and all we”re doing is mopping up the floor,” said Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition President Jon Hauxwell, referring to what he believes are under-funded prevention and control programs. “Right now we”re tossing a pittance in that direction.”
Approximately one in five Kansas adults and 29 percent of high school students use tobacco, costing the Kansas health system about $724 million yearly, according to KDHE and a 2005 Kansas Health Institute report to the Legislature. The KHI study estimated that indirect costs of tobacco use including lost productivity due to absenteeism run as high as $741 million.
“Direct and indirect costs of smoking in Kansas total $1.4 billion annually, an amount equal to approximately $543 for every man, woman and child in Kansas regardless if they smoke or not,” the report concluded.
Today, money used to pay for the programs comes from a fund generated by the 1998 settlement of a multi-state lawsuit against the tobacco industry. That lawsuit, in which Kansas participated, was aimed at compensating states for money spent in previous years to treat people with smoking-related illnesses, including cancer.
The settlement money approximately $55 million a year collects in the Kansas Endowment for Youth Fund. More of the settlement money could be used for tobacco prevention and control, but only if legislators are to cut funding for a variety of youth programs, including a mental health initiative, parent education and therapeutic preschool. Also, in recent years, about $145 million in settlement dollars have been transferred to the state”s general fund to cover revenue shortfalls.
Jim McLean is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
jmclean@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 110.