Top U of L Administrators Voice Support for Tobacco Tax

Feb 6th, 2009

Top administrators of the University of Louisville announced their support of a 70 cent increase in the tobacco tax to improve health and raise needed revenue for education. In a January 6 letter published in the Courier Journal, U of L President James Ramsey, along with other key administrators at health-related schools within the university, called for enactment of the tobacco tax increase as well as a statewide ban on smoking in public places. Here is the text of their letter:

“In addition to the University of Louisville's commitment to teaching and advancement of educational opportunity, our schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing, and public health are training the best and brightest medical professionals. At the University of Louisville Hospital and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, our faculty physicians and our researchers are internationally renowned for scientific and medical firsts and for providing the best care in the nation in cancer, strokes, hearts, trauma and spinal cord injury -- to name just a few. Our Passport Health Plans, a Medicaid managed care plan that serves the Medicaid and KCHIP populations in 16 Kentucky counties, is ranked as one of the best health plans in the nation.

We strive every day to improve the health of Kentuckians and those who come to us from far and wide for care. As leaders of U of L's health care enterprises, we unite our voices in a call to the General Assembly to raise Kentucky's cigarette tax and enact a statewide smoking ban.

We unabashedly admit that we support an increase in the cigarette tax for the additional state revenue it would create. With seven budget cuts over the past nine years, stabilization of state funding is critical to educate our students and achieve status as one of America's premier metropolitan research universities.

Our call to action here, however, is about much more than revenue. It is about improving the health of Kentuckians, the cost of lives lost to smoking-related illnesses, and health care costs mounting every day.

Kentucky leads the nation in the number of adult smokers. We lead the nation in the number of smoking-related deaths at a rate 49 percent higher than the national average. More than twice as many of Kentucky's pregnant women smoke than the national average and 20 percent more of our young people are smokers.

This is not the kind of leadership Kentucky needs.

Research shows that each 10 percent increase in cigarette prices reduces total consumption by 4 percent, youth smoking rates by 6.5 percent and smoking among pregnant women by 7 percent.

In turn, these reduced smoking rates lower secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmokers, especially children and pregnant women. Think of the impact on Kentucky's children, more than 45 percent of whom live in a home where someone smokes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that the annual cost of smoking to our state tops $3.6 billion, when factoring in both health care costs and lost wages. Medicaid -- including Passport Health Plans -- spends more than $480 million each year in smoking-related health care costs. Working Kentuckians and their employers pay higher insurance premiums because of smoking.

Cigarette taxes can be wisely invested in solving part of the problem. The half-penny that the Brown Cancer Center receives from the current cigarette excise tax is funding a nationally competitive lung cancer research program at the U of L. This support has allowed BCC scientists to make groundbreaking discoveries are leading to new ways to detect lung cancer earlier and more effective treatments for lung cancer patients. The seed money from these funds and the Kentucky Lung Cancer Research Trust are allowing our researchers to submit applications for federal funding that, when awarded, have a positive economic impact on our city, region and state.

But research alone cannot solve the problem. The second part of the equation is smoking cessation. And, that is why we applaud Senate President David Williams for suggesting a statewide smoking ban. Twenty-three states have passed a smoking ban and 11 states have enacted a partial ban. It's time to add Kentucky to the list.

Gov. Steve Beshear has made a bold proposal for a 70-cent increase in the cigarette tax. He and our state legislators face tough decisions in Frankfort this year, but acting to stop smoking should top the list. It's a winning proposition for everyone and we pledge to support them in their efforts.”

JAMES R. RAMSEY, Ph.D.

President

SHIRLEY WILLIHNGANZ, Ph.D.

Provost

LARRY N. COOK, M.D.

Executive Vice President for Health Affairs

MANUEL MARTINEZ, M.D., M.A.C.P.

Executive Vice President for Research

DONALD M. MILLER, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Vice President for Health Affairs

Director, James Graham Brown Cancer Center

RICHARD D. CLOVER, M.D.

Dean, School of Public Health and Information Sciences

EDWARD C. HALPERIN, M.D., M.A.

Dean, School of Medicine

MARCIA HERN, Ed.D., C.N.S., R.N.

Dean, School of Nursing

JOHN J. SAUK, D.D.S., M.S.

Dean, School of Dentistry

JAMES H. TAYLOR, Ph. D.

Chief Executive Officer, University of Louisville Hospital

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