Smoking cessation worth supporting

Letters to the Editor
Burlington Free Press, Burlington, Vermont

February 8, 2008

I am proud to live in Vermont, a state taking action on expanding health-care access and improving the medical care that its residents receive. Every time I read a story about health-care reform, it discusses the importance of prevention and how we must act now to save health-care dollars later.

If prevention is so important, why has the governor proposed to level-fund the tobacco control program for fiscal year '09, and to make matters worse, the program stands to lose $500,000 this fiscal year. The governor has proposed to strike language from a bill that was passed last year. This funding was intended to enhance smoking cessation services at federally qualified health centers, clinics for the uninsured and mental-health centers in Vermont and increase access to over-the-counter medication to help Vermonters quit smoking.

The governor's budget is also taking nearly $8 million away from the tobacco trust fund. This does not make good fiscal sense. Tobacco related disease continues to be the No. 1 cause of preventable death and disease. The CDC estimates that Vermont's annual smoking attributable Medicaid expenditures are $72 million. From 2002 to 2006, Vermont has seen a 15 percent relative reduction in adult prevalence of tobacco use. This decrease in prevalence is saving Vermont $4 million to $5 million a year in Medicaid costs alone.

This is prevention. Tobacco settlement dollars need to go toward prevention and cessation programs.

MICHAEL WOLIK
Montpelier