President Bush made the wrong
moral decision when he vetoed the children’s health insurance bill on Wednesday.
And, unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one who chose politics over young
people’s well-being.
Before the bill landed on Bush’s
desk, all three congressmen who represent Cumberland County voted against it — because
cigarette smokers would foot most of the bill.
The proposal to expand the
children’s health insurance program calls for a 156 percent increase in the
federal cigarette tax, taking it from 39 cents to $1 per pack. The money
generated by the hike would pay for an additional 4 million children to get the
kind of preventive care all youngsters need.
Representatives Bob Etheridge,
Robin Hayes and Mike McIntyre all defended the insurance program but were quick
to add that Big Tobacco shouldn’t bear the brunt of expanding
it.
They said the tobacco industry,
and thus all residents of the Tar Heel state, had become Congress’ whipping
boy.
They are partially right. It’s
true that fewer people smoke when tobacco taxes rise. In 2005, North Carolina added 30
cents a pack to the cigarette tax and reduced cigarette sales by 18.5 percent.
But it’s incorrect to assume that
the entire state loses when smoking rates drop.
The three congressmen failed to
add up the costly side effects of tobacco smoke in the air. The links between
smoking and illness are firmly and irrefutably established, as is the annual
cost to society.
In North Carolina, where about 20
percent of adults and high school students smoke, tobacco-related illnesses kill
about 12,000 people a year, and cost about $4 billion a year for health care
(more than a quarter of that in Medicaid payments that come directly out of
taxpayers’ pockets).
If a higher federal cigarette tax
encourages some smokers to stop and persuades others not to even start, then the
state would be better off for it.
Local lawmakers blew a unique
opportunity to provide children with a safety net while reducing the number of
smokers in the state. But President Bush’s veto leaves the door open for more
negotiations between the White House and Congress.
Next time around, Etheridge,
McIntyre and Hayes should stand on the side of health and
children.
