Smoking costs Ohio $9.2 billion as health care costs rise, report says

Lack of prevention efforts raises health care costs, Lung Association says.

In this file photo Roger Hail smokes a cigarette on Symmes Tavern on the Green's outdoor patio in Fairfield Tuesday Dec. 13, 2011.

Staff photo by Nick Daggy In this file photo Roger Hail smokes a cigarette on Symmes Tavern on the Green's outdoor patio in Fairfield Tuesday Dec. 13, 2011.

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By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer Updated 9:16 AM Friday, January 20, 2012

Ohio is failing to curtail tobacco use and help users quit, lapses that are driving up health care costs for businesses and taxpayers while costing the state at least $9.2 billion annually, the American Lung Association says in a new report out today.

Ohio received an “F” for spending just 2.1 percent of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for tobacco prevention and control, worse than any state except for New Jersey, which spent 1.9 percent of the CDC recommendation, the association said. The state also received an “F” for providing inadequate cessation coverage through Medicaid, its own health plans for workers and a quit line.

Meanwhile, Ohio’s adult smoking rate rose in 2010 to 22.5 percent, sixth highest in the nation. And 42 percent of Ohio’s Medicaid users smoke, said Shelly Kiser of the American Lung Association in Ohio. Tobacco-related illnesses have swelled expenses for the state’s Medicaid program, which accounts for about 30 percent of Ohio’s general operating spending.

“The state has really fallen down on the job,” Kiser said.

The association cited CDC data that showed smoking cost Ohio an estimated $4.4 billion in medical costs, another $1.4 billion in Medicaid expenses, and $4.7 billion in lost productivity from premature death. The net cost to the state is estimated at more than $9 billion.

In fiscal 2010, tobacco users in the state paid about $887 million in net taxes, according to the state Department of Taxation — money that was designated for purposes other than combating tobacco usage. Kiser said Ohio could reduce tobacco usage by setting aside 5 percent of those tax receipts for tobacco prevention and cessation, or by taxing tobacco products other than cigarettes at the same rate at which cigarettes are taxed.

Large budget shortfalls in recent years have forced the state to make difficult decisions related to tobacco control, said Mari-jean Siehl, chief of the state’s tobacco use prevention and cessation program. She acknowledged the state later this year could run out of federal funding for its quit line, which is used by the uninsured, Medicaid recipients and pregnant women. The state has applied for some additional funding, she said.

Ohio is trying to keep the frameworks for programs in place so they can be ramped back up when more funding is available, Siehl said. The state is also promoting smoke-free policies for multi-unit housing and school-sponsored events that are not held in schools, which are already tobacco-free.

The news for Ohio was not all bad. The state was one of 24 that received an “A” for its smoke-free law.

Lisa Zumstein, sanitarian program specialist with the state Department of Health’s indoor environment program, said Ohio’s smoke-free law is very strong, and said the public overall is happy with the law.

“By having this strong law that prohibits smoking in workplaces and public buildings, most people are not being exposed to second-hand smoke,” she said.

The report card also gave Ohio a “D” for levying a $1.25 tax on a pack of 20 cigarettes.

The association assigned passing grades in all four categories to only four states: Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma.

Contact this reporter at (937)  225-7457 or bsutherly@Dayton DailyNews.com.

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