Health insurance advocates urge tax
16 01 08 - 11:26
COALITION SEEKS LEVY ON TOBACCO TO AID THOSE WITHOUT BENEFITS
By Jack Brammer
JBRAMMER@HERALD-LEADER.COM
FRANKFORT --A broad group of health advocates working for coverage of the nearly 600,000 Kentuckians without health insurance is joining the growing chorus for a higher tobacco tax.
The group, known as Kentucky Voices for Health, is pushing for a higher cigarette tax to reduce smoking, particularly among youth and pregnant women, with some of the revenue used to improve the health of Kentuckians.
Tonya Chang, state director of advocacy with the American Heart Association, said at a news conference Monday in the Capitol Rotunda announcing the new group that Kentucky's cigarette tax should be close to the national average of $1.11 a pack. Kentucky's tax rate now is 30 cents a pack, among the lowest in the nation.
Chang said it is too early for the new health coalition to say how much money from a cigarette tax increase should go to provide health insurance.
The state's two leading Democratic lawmakers -- House Speaker Jody Richards of Bowling Green and Senate Minority Leader Ed Worley of Richmond -- said last week that the legislature should consider raising the cigarette tax instead of cutting education funding in the next two-year budget. They stopped short of saying they will vote for any tax increase.
A 75-cent increase in Kentucky's cigarette tax rate would generate $307.6 million a year for the state treasury, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. The state is predicted to have $500 million less to spend next year.
Besides pushing for a higher cigarette tax and the current levels of Medicaid coverage and services, Kentucky Voices for Health will seek to expand at a cost of $2.4 million the Kentucky Children's Health Insurance program to include children whose annual family incomes are at 250 percent of the federal poverty level -- or $31,000 for a family of four -- and raise the age limit for participation from 18 to 20.
KVH also wants family health insurance plans in the private sector to cover young adults up to age 26.
Ed Monahan, with the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, said of the 568,514 Kentuckians -- about 14 percent of the population -- without health insurance, 90,496 are children. He noted that about 16 percent of Americans do not have health insurance.
"In the world's most affluent country, there is a moral imperative to provide access to health care for uninsured individuals," Monahan said. "KVH will provide the momentum to increase health care coverage in Kentucky for many in need."
The new health coalition's leadership is made up of representatives from AARP Kentucky, Advocacy Action Network, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Catholic Conference of Kentucky, Covering Kentucky Kids and Families, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, Health Kentucky, Kentucky Child Now, Kentucky Council of Churches, Kentucky Equal Justice Center, Kentucky Youth Advocates and the University of Kentucky's College of Public Health.
More than 20 other organizations are part of KVH.