Medical University of South Carolina THE RURAL INTERDISICPLINARY PRACTICUM Lowcountry AHEC
Funded by USDHHS, PHS, Bureau of Health Professions Grant No. D36HP16004
1
Cigarette Tax for Health Care: A Rural Perspective
Considering the positive and negative impact on rural agriculture, communities, and health,
should the South Carolina legislature increase the cigarette tax to fund health care? For
example should it fund:
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Smoking cessation programs for youth and/or adults?
Medicaid “matching funds” in order to increase Medicaid services and/or broaden
eligibility criteria to increase the number of recipients?
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for children of families at or below 200%
of the federal poverty level?
Pprivate health insurance subsidies for low-income workers in small businesses?
Research and promotion of healthy lifestyles with food grown in South Carolina?
Marketing of South Carolina grown, nontobacco agricultural products by the
Department of Agriculture?
Maternal-child health programs by the Department of Health and Environmental
Services?
Proposed Legislation
Cigarette Tax Increase, H. 4888, 116th Session. (2006). Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess116_2005-2006/bills/4888.htm
Small Business Health Insurance Premium Act, H. 4850, 116th Session. (2006). Retrieved
May 4, 2006, from http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess116_2005-2006/bills/4850.htm
Suggested References
Health Insurance Coverage
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (n.d.). Health insurance coverage & uninsured: South
Carolina. In Statehealthfacts.org. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.statehealthfacts.kff.org/cgi-bin/healthfacts.cgi?
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
(2003, September). Health insurance coverage in rural America. Retrieved May 4,
2006, from http://www.kff.org/uninsured/4093.cfm
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
(2006, January). The uninsured: A primer. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.kff.org/uninsured/7451.cfm
Muskie School of Public Service. (2005, December). Out-of-pocket spending and the rural
uninsured. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://muskie.usm.maine.edu/research/Publications/rural/wp33.pdf
National Center for Health Statistics. (2006, March 27). Metropolitan/nonmetropolitan data:
Health care coverage and federal programs. In Health, United States, 2005.
Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hus/metro.htm
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2006, April). Cover the uninsured week: Facts and
figures. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from http://covertheuninsured.org/factsfigures/
Medical University of South Carolina THE RURAL INTERDISICPLINARY PRACTICUM Lowcountry AHEC
Funded by USDHHS, PHS, Bureau of Health Professions Grant No. D36HP16004
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2006, April). The coverage gap: A state-by-state report
on access to care. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.rwjf.org/files/newsroom/CoverageGap0406.pdf
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2006, April). Policies and strategies. Retrieved May 4,
2006, from http://covertheuninsured.org/policycenter/
Rural Policy Research Institute. (2005). The impact of welfare reform on health insurance
coverage in rural areas. Rural Policy Brief, 10(6), 1-8. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.rupri.org/healthpolicy/Pubs/PB2005-6.pdf
Simpson, K. N., & Bradford, D. (2005, April 9). Economics of financing Medicaid in South
Carolina. Paper presented at a public forum of the League of Women Voters of the
Charleston Area, Charleston, SC. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://jonathan.con.musc.edu/erkelea/SCRIPT/
South Carolina Appleseed Justice Center. (n.d.) Medicaid facts (Fact Sheet). Retrieved May
4, 2006, from http://www.scjustice.org/pdfs/MedicaidFacts.pdf
U.S. Census Bureau. (2006, March 2). Health insurance data. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/hlthins.html
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2006, March 31). Poverty guidelines,
research, and measurement. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/index.shtml
Tobacco-Related Information
Brimelow, P. (1994, July 4). Thank you for smoking [Electronic version]. Forbes. Retrieved
May 4, 2006, from http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/brimelow1.html
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (2005, November 20). State tobacco settlement: South
Carolina. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements/state.php?StateID=SC
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (2005). The toll of tobacco in South Carolina. Retrieved
May 4, 2006, from
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements/toll.php?StateID=SC
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (2006). Tobacco taxes—State (Fact Sheets). Retrieved
May 4, 2006, from
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/index.php?CategoryID=18
Capehart, T. C. (2003). U.S. tobacco industry responding to new competitors, new
challenges. Amber Waves, 1(4), 14-21. Retrieved May 10, 2006, from
http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/September03/pdf/featuretobaccosept2003.pdf
Capehart, T. (2005, November). Trends in U.S tobacco farming (Outlook Report No. TBS257-02). Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/tbs/nov04/tbs25702/
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Medical University of South Carolina THE RURAL INTERDISICPLINARY PRACTICUM Lowcountry AHEC
Funded by USDHHS, PHS, Bureau of Health Professions Grant No. D36HP16004
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Capehart, T. (2006). U.S. tobacco sector regroups. Amber Waves, 4(1), 2. Retrieved May 4,
2006, from
http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/February06/Findings/findings_mt1.htm
Durham, R. (1998, March). Tobacco farmers and conversion [Electronic version]. The Prism.
Retrieved May 4, 2006, from http://www.ibiblio.org/prism/mar98/tobacco.html
Fisher, L. (2000). Tobacco farming and tobacco control in the United States [Electronic
version]. Cancer Causes and Control, 11, 977-979. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cancer/risk/tobacco/resources/tobacco_notes/tobacco
_notes_11_997_2000.pdf
McMahon, C. (2006, February 10). State cigarette excise tax rates & rankings (Campaign
for Tobacco-Free Kids Fact Sheet). Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0097.pdf
Panchamukhi, P. R. (2000, January). Agricultural diversification as a tool for tobacco control
[Electronic version]. Paper presented at the WHO International Conference on
Tobacco Control Law, New Delhi, India. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.who.int/tobacco/media/en/PANCHIMUKHI2000X.pdf
Phillip Morris International. (2005). Tobacco farming: From seed to cure. Retrieved May 4,
2006, from
http://www.philipmorrisinternational.com/PMINTL/pages/eng/ourbus/Farming.asp
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (n.d.) Tobacco. Retrieved May
4, 2006, from http://www.ers.usda.gov/Browse/Crops/Tobacco.htm
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (2005, October 3). Briefing
room: Tobacco. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/tobacco/
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (2006, April 26). State fact
sheets: South Carolina. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.ers.usda.gov/StateFacts/SC.htm
The World Bank. (2001). The economics of tobacco control: Myths and facts. Retrieved May
4, 2006, from http://www1.worldbank.org/tobacco/faq.asp#topg
Yeargin, W. W. (n.d.) Tobacco heritage. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from
http://www.tobaccoheritage.com/