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NEWS
Health care plan would double state's cigarette tax
SOUTH CHARLESTON -- A bill more than doubling the state's cigarette tax will help fund a wide-ranging health care package, the chairmen of the West Virginia Legislature's health and human resources committees say.
Sen. Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, and Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, talked about some of the highlights of the proposed package during a meeting Thursday with reporters and editors at the Marshall University campus in South Charleston.
Raising the cigarette tax by 65 cents to $1.20, the national average, will generate $110 million annually to treat and prevent chronic disease associated with smoking, Perdue said. The funding also will be used to defray costs for Medicaid expansion, provide tax credits for small businesses so they can offer health insurance and pay for an array of health information technology initiatives.
The health care package was assembled by the West Virginia Health Improvement Institute, a group of health care experts, insurance providers, government officials and academic figures that has been meeting since May. The institute's work groups released a series of recommendations that have been molded into seven pieces of legislation. Prezioso said he hopes to whittle the package down to no more than four bills that will be introduced during the Legislature's 60-day session, which convenes Wednesday.
One of the goals of the legislation is to make people more responsible for their own care and aware of the importance of preventative care. That will be addressed through legislation that establishes "medical homes," a concept that calls for patients to see a primary care physician who manages one's entire realm of health care needs.
Ted Cheatham, director of the Public Employees Insurance Agency, said far too many people are waiting until they develop chronic illnesses before they see a doctor. For example, the average West Virginian uses 19 different prescription drugs over the course of a year, the highest dosage rate in the country, he said.
Prezioso and Perdue said they know portions of the health care package, namely the cigarette tax and a bill that requires restaurant chains to post calories next to each menu item, will be a tough sell.
Gov. Joe Manchin, who spoke to the audience of reporters and editors earlier in the day, said his proposed budget does not call for any hikes in general revenue taxes, which would cover the cigarette tax.
"I'm hopeful that the governor elects to support a cigarette tax increase," Perdue said. "Absent his open support, our efforts will be extremely difficult."
Manchin applauded Perdue and Prezioso's work and said some of the institute's recommendations will be part of his own health care agenda, which aims to provide coverage to all working West Virginians.
About 14 percent, or 254,000, of working West Virginians are uninsured.
Manchin did not release details of his health care plan, but hinted that it might include an expansion in Medicaid coverage. He said that the state's public health insurance eligibility threshold of $6,160 in annual income for working parents is too low.
"If you're someone who tries to go to work every day to better yourself, that's just wrong," he said.
Manchin and Prezioso, however, cautioned against using one-time economic stimulus funds to expand existing programs or create new ones. Those programs would be scaled back or dissolved once funding dried up, they said.
"I'm not looking to the federal government to be our provider," Manchin said.
