Jump to full article: Superior (WI) Daily Telegram, 2009-06-26
Intro: The Wisconsin Senate early Friday passed its version of a state budget that raises taxes on smokers by $300 million, then slashes a successful program by 55 percent that is reducing youth smoking and helping smokers quit.
The Wisconsin Senate early Friday passed its version of a state budget that raises taxes on smokers by $300 million, then slashes a successful program by 55 percent that is reducing youth smoking and helping smokers quit.
Budget negotiators had already cut the program 40 percent – eight times more than the average cut for state agencies and programs. In secret negotiations again last night, Democrats who control the Legislature slashed another $5 million, leaving the program at only one-tenth of what the Centers for Disease Control recommends.
“Lawmakers also want to cut a half billion dollars from Medicaid – and tobacco-related diseases are the single most expensive cost to the Medicaid program,” said Maureen Busalacchi, executive director of SmokeFree Wisconsin. “So cutting the program that reduces smoking is not logical. How that math works is a mystery.
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