Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 2, 1998
Contact: Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Locke called on the 1999 Legislature to use most of the state's tobacco-settlement funds to protect Washington's Basic Health Plan for working families and to expand Medicaid health coverage for children in low-income families.
The governor also proposed using the tobacco settlement to establish a $150 million endowment fund to supplement intensifying national efforts to help smokers quit and convince young people not to use tobacco.
"Over the course of this century, we witnessed how products of the tobacco industry destroyed lives and stole from us our parents, brothers, sisters – people we loved," Locke said. "At the threshold of the 21st century, we'll use this settlement to settle the score with Big Tobacco. We'll use their money to build healthy, educated families who have the strength and knowledge to fight the addiction the tobacco industry is peddling."
Locke praised Washington State Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who led negotiations resulting in the landmark nationwide settlement in which cigarette makers Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorrilard agreed to pay $206 billion to 46 states and the District of Columbia over the next 25 years.
"Our own attorney general has done what Congress was unable to do," Locke said. "She had the courage, the persistence and brilliance to make the tobacco industry take responsibility for the damage it has done here in our state and across the nation."
Locke said his proposal for use of the tobacco settlement will support the state Health Services Account, where revenue shortfalls combined with rapidly rising health care costs threaten the capacity to finance the Basic Health Plan and the Medicaid Healthy Options program for children in low-income families. These programs provide subsidized health care to hundreds of thousands of children and adults in Washington who could not otherwise afford health insurance.
Because tobacco-related illnesses placed such a financial burden on state health care programs over the years, it makes sense to use tobacco-settlement money to maintain and improve health programs that not only treat health problems but teach families to live healthy lives, Locke said.
The governor said that without the tobacco settlement, the state would be forced to choose between funding education – the state's highest priority – and preserving and improving state health programs.
"Now we can do both," Locke said. "We can stabilize the Health Services Account, ensuring that families in Washington can obtain the health care they need. And we don't have to fund our education system at the expense of our state's health needs.''
Washington's share of the tobacco settlement will total $4.02 billion over the next 25 years. Payments will total $323.1 million in the 1999-01 biennium. Remaining payments will average $149 million per year thereafter.
Locke's proposal directs $157.5 million of the tobacco-settlement funds the state is scheduled to receive in the next biennium to the Health Services Account. The settlement money will balance the account, addressing projected revenue shortfalls, including $72.7 million in the Basic Health Plan and $80.8 million in the Medicaid Healthy Options program for children. An additional $4 million will be used to start the Children's Health Insurance Program, leveraging $7.7 million in federal funding to provide health services for approximately 10,000 children in families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
The governor's plan also calls for $150 million of the state's settlement payments in the next biennium to be placed in the newly created Tobacco Prevention Trust Fund. This endowment, including interest on fund balances, will go to public-health programs for tobacco prevention and cessation. Legislation will define how the fund will be administered and held accountable for providing programs that work.
"It is our goal to make the current generation of smokers in Washington the last generation of smokers in our state,'' Locke said.
Attorney General Gregoire supports the governor's proposal. She noted that it allows the Tobacco Prevention Trust Fund to be replenished, using a portion of future tobacco settlement payments, to continue and expand successful tobacco prevention programs. Start-up costs for the endowment fund, including research and planning, are funded by a $5 million allocation from Washington's settlement payments in the next biennium.
The state and local tobacco prevention efforts funded through Washington's share of the settlement will supplement a massive $1.5 billion national anti-smoking campaign that the tobacco industry must finance under terms of the national settlement. An additional $250 million will go to a national foundation dedicated to funding research on reducing teen smoking.
Under the governor's proposal for financing state health services with settlement funds:
* Enrollment in the Basic Health Plan is expected to grow to 137,200 in the 1999-01 biennium, while retaining the current benefits package and limiting enrollee costs to current levels. By maintaining the state's commitment to working families, the governor's proposal will ensure that Washington remains a national leader in providing access to health care.
* Expansion of health coverage for children is accomplished through new legislation creating the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which will provide subsidized health coverage for about 10,000 children up to age 18 who live in households with income between 200 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty level. Currently, the state's Medicaid program for children limits eligibility to 200 percent of the poverty level. The new coverage will cost $11.7 million in the next biennium and be financed with $4 million from the Health Services Account and $7.7 million in federal matching funds. Parents will be required to make premium contributions based on their ability to pay.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 2, 1998
Contact: Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Governor proposes using tobacco settlement to improve health care
SEATTLE — The historic settlement with the tobacco industry means Washington State can protect the health of working families without depleting funds needed to boost education programs across the state, Gov. Gary Locke said today in a news conference at Children's Hospital.Locke called on the 1999 Legislature to use most of the state's tobacco-settlement funds to protect Washington's Basic Health Plan for working families and to expand Medicaid health coverage for children in low-income families.
The governor also proposed using the tobacco settlement to establish a $150 million endowment fund to supplement intensifying national efforts to help smokers quit and convince young people not to use tobacco.
"Over the course of this century, we witnessed how products of the tobacco industry destroyed lives and stole from us our parents, brothers, sisters – people we loved," Locke said. "At the threshold of the 21st century, we'll use this settlement to settle the score with Big Tobacco. We'll use their money to build healthy, educated families who have the strength and knowledge to fight the addiction the tobacco industry is peddling."
Locke praised Washington State Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who led negotiations resulting in the landmark nationwide settlement in which cigarette makers Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorrilard agreed to pay $206 billion to 46 states and the District of Columbia over the next 25 years.
"Our own attorney general has done what Congress was unable to do," Locke said. "She had the courage, the persistence and brilliance to make the tobacco industry take responsibility for the damage it has done here in our state and across the nation."
Locke said his proposal for use of the tobacco settlement will support the state Health Services Account, where revenue shortfalls combined with rapidly rising health care costs threaten the capacity to finance the Basic Health Plan and the Medicaid Healthy Options program for children in low-income families. These programs provide subsidized health care to hundreds of thousands of children and adults in Washington who could not otherwise afford health insurance.
Because tobacco-related illnesses placed such a financial burden on state health care programs over the years, it makes sense to use tobacco-settlement money to maintain and improve health programs that not only treat health problems but teach families to live healthy lives, Locke said.
The governor said that without the tobacco settlement, the state would be forced to choose between funding education – the state's highest priority – and preserving and improving state health programs.
"Now we can do both," Locke said. "We can stabilize the Health Services Account, ensuring that families in Washington can obtain the health care they need. And we don't have to fund our education system at the expense of our state's health needs.''
Washington's share of the tobacco settlement will total $4.02 billion over the next 25 years. Payments will total $323.1 million in the 1999-01 biennium. Remaining payments will average $149 million per year thereafter.
Locke's proposal directs $157.5 million of the tobacco-settlement funds the state is scheduled to receive in the next biennium to the Health Services Account. The settlement money will balance the account, addressing projected revenue shortfalls, including $72.7 million in the Basic Health Plan and $80.8 million in the Medicaid Healthy Options program for children. An additional $4 million will be used to start the Children's Health Insurance Program, leveraging $7.7 million in federal funding to provide health services for approximately 10,000 children in families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
The governor's plan also calls for $150 million of the state's settlement payments in the next biennium to be placed in the newly created Tobacco Prevention Trust Fund. This endowment, including interest on fund balances, will go to public-health programs for tobacco prevention and cessation. Legislation will define how the fund will be administered and held accountable for providing programs that work.
"It is our goal to make the current generation of smokers in Washington the last generation of smokers in our state,'' Locke said.
Attorney General Gregoire supports the governor's proposal. She noted that it allows the Tobacco Prevention Trust Fund to be replenished, using a portion of future tobacco settlement payments, to continue and expand successful tobacco prevention programs. Start-up costs for the endowment fund, including research and planning, are funded by a $5 million allocation from Washington's settlement payments in the next biennium.
The state and local tobacco prevention efforts funded through Washington's share of the settlement will supplement a massive $1.5 billion national anti-smoking campaign that the tobacco industry must finance under terms of the national settlement. An additional $250 million will go to a national foundation dedicated to funding research on reducing teen smoking.
Under the governor's proposal for financing state health services with settlement funds:
* Enrollment in the Basic Health Plan is expected to grow to 137,200 in the 1999-01 biennium, while retaining the current benefits package and limiting enrollee costs to current levels. By maintaining the state's commitment to working families, the governor's proposal will ensure that Washington remains a national leader in providing access to health care.
* Expansion of health coverage for children is accomplished through new legislation creating the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which will provide subsidized health coverage for about 10,000 children up to age 18 who live in households with income between 200 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty level. Currently, the state's Medicaid program for children limits eligibility to 200 percent of the poverty level. The new coverage will cost $11.7 million in the next biennium and be financed with $4 million from the Health Services Account and $7.7 million in federal matching funds. Parents will be required to make premium contributions based on their ability to pay.
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