After weeks of haggling, Gov. Bill Owens, lawmakers and proponents of a tobacco tax spending measure have wisely reached a compromise on how to divvy up roughly $170 million among state health care programs.
The various sides had been at odds on several key points, and Owens had threatened to veto the bill drawn up by supporters of Amendment 35 if they failed to accept some of his proposals. The amendment was approved by voters last November and raises the tax on cigarettes from 20 cents a pack to 84 cents to fund health care and smoking-cessation programs. House Bill 1262 is the measure that implements the programs and directs spending. The measure must now be approved by the Senate and re-approved by the House with the compromise provisions.
One of the sticking points that was resolved involved how much money to set aside to cover possible future declines in tobacco tax revenues. Owens wanted $80 million and got it; Amendment 35 supporters wanted slightly less.
Owens also wanted money to cover gaps in rural and minority health care and got it. And he insisted that smoking-cessation programs be evaluated for effectiveness. He wanted less money overall than the originally proposed $27 million targeted for anti-smoking programs. He was unable to change the amount but succeeded in getting at-risk youths covered by stop-smoking efforts.
Finally, Owens wanted more money devoted not only to screenings for breast and cervical cancer but for treatment. The compromise will enable 300 women diagnosed with cancer to get treatment. Owens’ deputy chief of staff, Sean Duffy, said the governor considered it a “cruel gap in coverage” to provide money for uninsured women to get cancer screenings but ignore money for treatment.
The compromise version of the legislation now contains most of the common-sense solutions that Owens and the bill’s supporters wanted. Overall, the new tobacco revenues will mean health care for more Colorado children; cancer treatment for uninsured women; prenatal care for poor pregnant women; and prevention programs aimed at lowering Medicaid costs. The downside of HB 1262 is that no money was earmarked to increase Medicaid and uninsured reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals – except Children’s Hospital, which will get an additional $500,000 starting in 2006-07. The legislature should make provider reimbursement a priority in next year’s session.
