Tobacco.org

EDITORIAL: Smoking in Missouri: Pay now or pay more later 

This map shows Missouri Medicaid enrollment and smoking rates by county. The darker the color, the greater the percentage of people in Medicaid. Counties with cross-hatching have the highest smoking rates, followed by those with diagonal lines. . . .

Helping smokers quit would save money in the long run. But at a time when lawmakers are being forced to make budget cuts, it’s going to be a difficult sell.

Still, Missouri made about $108 million in tobacco taxes last year and received another $152 million in tobacco settlement funds. Most of that money goes to uses other than the one for which it was intended: helping smokers quit and preventing kids from starting.

Missouri Medicaid should cover anti-smoking drugs and counseling, the same as it covers drugs to treat diabetes and high cholesterol — two other conditions that, left untreated, add greatly to long-term health costs.

Legislators should require that private health insurance sold in our state provide similar coverage, too. Quitting smoking is hard enough. There’s no justification, moral or economic, for making it any harder.

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