Tobacco Tax solves the State’s Problems
Published on February 2, 2010 9:29 AM
Because of a bad economy and unemployment increase, Georgian officials decided to find a solution to solve these main problems. Severe budget lacks threaten basic services such as Medicaid and Peach Care for Kids, which work as lifelines to low-income families who might otherwise be uninsured in this difficult economic atmosphere.
One potential solution is an increase in the state’s tobacco tax, currently one of the lowest in the nation, which could have the dual effect of lowering smoking rates and producing better income to conserve necessary health services.
A reduction in smoking rates has important public health profits and reduces overall health care costs. An excise tax on tobacco has been proved to decrease its usage, especially among younger smokers.
According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids recent research, a 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces smoking by 3 percent to 5 percent and decreased the number of children who smoke cigarettes by at least 6 percent.
A strong health care security is very critical in times of relatively high unemployment because most of Georgians usually receive health insurance as a job-related profit.
In Georgia losing a job usually means losing the health insurance that came with it.
Because of this result, Medicaid is known as a countercyclical program. As more Georgians enroll in Medicaid and Peach Care against the backdrop of a stretched state budget, however, thousands of Georgians are at risk of losing access to these public health resources at the time they are most needed.
Eligibility for Medicaid in Georgia is more restrictive than in many states. Infertile adults are usually ineligible for the program, even if they fall on hard economic times, and parents must have income below about half of the federal poverty line to deserve.
Because of the lack of affordable health insurance options for those who don’t have access to a job-based plan, many Georgians end up uninsured. The federal share of the cost of the Medicaid program was temporarily increased, providing fiscal relief to the states. Through 2010, Georgia’s share will be one-quarter, rather than one-third, of the cost of the state’s Medicaid program, declared researchers. Researchers concluded that the tobacco tax would ameliorate not only the state’s fiscal health but also the health of its citizens.
