News
Clients in the News
- Dublin’s e-waste generates jobs
- Delaware County Bank president sees bright future
- Ohio Fails to Protect Citizens from Tobacco-Caused Disease and Death
- Farmers urged to improve trade ties
- AEP Ohio donates almost $300,000 to Mid-Ohio Foodbank
- Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program Releases Economic Impact Study with Utica-shale Development Projections
Archives
Ohio Fails to Protect Citizens from Tobacco-Caused Disease and Death
Ohio faired poorly in the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2012 report. The state received two “F” grades for tobacco-prevention and control spending and tobacco-cessation coverage and a “D” for the cigarette tax category. Ohio received one good score – an “A” for smoke-free air.
American Lung Association – Tobacco Grade
5PM News on WCMH-TV4 | Columbus, Ohio | 1-19-12
New report gives Ohio an ‘F’ for spending on smoking prevention
FOX19 | Cincinnati, Ohio
Tobacco Use
WTVN-610AM |Columbus, Ohio | 1-19-12
Smoking
WTAM-AM | Cleveland, Ohio | 1-19-12
Ohio lagging in fight against cigarette smoking, American Lung Association says
The Plain Dealer | Cleveland, Ohio
Report: Ohio failing in tobacco control
The Columbus Dispatch | Columbus, Ohio
Smoking costs Ohio $9.2 billion as health care costs rise, report says
Dayton Daily News | Dayton, Ohio
Ohio earns failing grades for tobacco-control efforts
Akron Beacon Journal Online | Akron, Ohio
Ohio loses ground in tobacco fight
Toledo Blade | Toledo, Ohio
Lung association flunks Ohio anti-smoking efforts
Vindy.com | Youngstown, Ohio
Lung association flunks Ohio anti-smoking efforts
Dayton Daily News | Dayton, Ohio
Foes of smoking find Ohio’s meager prevention funding a drag: editorial
The Plain Dealer | Cleveland, Ohio
American Lung Association – Tobacco Grade
5PM News on WCMH-TV4 | Columbus, Ohio | 1-19-12
New report gives Ohio an ‘F’ for spending on smoking prevention
Posted: Jan 19, 2012 6:55 PM EST Updated: Jan 20, 2012 6:31 AM EST
By Gordon Graham
CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) -
A new report out from the American Lung Association gives Ohio an “F” for smoking prevention spending, worse than every other state except for New Jersey. Ohio has the 6th highest smoking rate in the nation at 22.5%.
The CDC says smoking costs Ohio more than $9 billion in medical expenses and premature deaths.
Ashley Auciello with the Cincinnati Health Department says there is a correlation between the number of smokers and how much the government spends to get people to stop.
“It’s unfortunate that you see the smoking rates rise in Ohio while in the rest of the nation they’re falling and that’s a direct result of losing funding,” she said.
FOX19 asked some smokers if getting people to quit is the government’s responsibility.
“I do not believe it’s the government’s responsibility at all. It’s every individual’s responsibility whether you smoke or not,” said David Krikorian.
The American Lung Association says over the past several years the state of Ohio has spent up to $53 million a year on smoking cessation and prevention, but in 2010 the amount went down to zero.
Dennis Rahe is a former smoker who says funding for anti-smoking programs has been adequate.
“They’re spending enough money to tell people they shouldn’t smoke cigarettes,” he said. “Most people are over 18, 20 years old…they know that they shouldn’t smoke. If they want to smoke and ruin themselves…that’s their decision.”
Brian Bailey is a smoker who says people have a right to smoke.
“I guess the people that don’t want us smoking [are] saying that we’re not doing enough to stop this, but isn’t that our right to smoke,” he said.
Sonia Little has been trying to quit and says the government should stay out of it.
“I think the government needs to mind their own business,” she said. “I mean we’re all adults…if we want to smoke, we’re going to smoke. If we don’t want to, we shouldn’t.”
In Kentucky, with one of the highest rates of smoking in the nation, funding for anti-smoking programs has remained about the same over the past few years while the number of smokers has begun to decline.
To view this story on the ohio.com website, click here.
Tobacco Use
WTVN-610AM |Columbus, Ohio | 1-19-12
Smoking
WTAM-AM | Cleveland, Ohio | 1-19-12
Ohio lagging in fight against cigarette smoking, American Lung Association says
Published: Thursday, January 19, 2012, 6:00 AM
Ellen Kleinerman, The Plain Dealer By Ellen Kleinerman, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio, for the third year in a row, received failing grades on the annual American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control report released today in the areas of cessation coverage and tobacco prevention spending.
The Lung Association report said 2011 was an abysmal year for tobacco control measures at the state level, with no states passing smoke-free laws and only two approving cigarette tax increases. Ohio stood out for another reason.
“Ohio is one of the few states in the country not investing [any of its own money] into tobacco prevention,” said Shelly Kiser, director of advocacy in Ohio for the Lung Association.
According to the Lung Association’s report, smoking costs Ohio $9 billion annually. More than 5,900 people die each year from lung cancer, and 4,900 from other respiratory diseases linked to smoking.
Currently, federal money and the leftover dollars from the tobacco company’s Master Settlement are funding the few anti-smoking efforts that remain in Ohio.
The legislature directed the Ohio health department to use $2 million of the leftover Master Settlement money over the next two fiscal years, which began in July, to enforce the state’s smoke-free workplace law.
This allocation earned Ohio an “A” in the smokefree air section of the lung association’s report card.
“Our smokefree law is very powerful,” said Terry Allan who heads the Cuyahoga County health department. “But we know from looking at other states that this law needs to be complemented by other efforts that include peer-to-peer education, counter marketing and the promotion of smoke-free schools.”
Ohio’s smoking rate has climbed steadily as the amount of money spent on cessation, education and advertising declined, Allan said.
The state spent around $6 million in anti-smoking programs in 2009 when the smoking rate was 20.1 percent and spent no money last fiscal year when the smoking rate was 22.5 percent.
This increase in smoking rate is contrary to the national trend, Kiser said. “Last year, smoking rates in the U.S. went down to 17.3 percent and Ohio’s went up.”
Kiser said Ohio gets about $1 billion annually from cigarette taxes and has not spent one penny on cessation or prevention programs.
The tax rate on cigarettes in Ohio is $1.25 per pack making the total cost around $6.22. Yet, every pack of cigarettes sold costs $9.19 in related health-care costs to businesses and the state, Kiser said.
The Lung Association wants Ohio lawmakers to increase cigarette taxes by another $1.25 a pack to generate $347 million annually for new programs.
Kiser said that anti-smoking ads and tobacco taxes grab the public’s attention and trigger spikes in calls to cessation programs such as Ohio’s Quit Line. Taxes and ads are especially effective in reducing smoking rates for youths and low-income populations, she said. That’s important, she said, because the smoking rate of Medicaid recipients is twice the state average and Ohio Medicaid spends about $1.4 billion annually to treat smoking related disorders.
“The important thing is that we need money for tobacco prevention and cessation. In the past, these programs have been incredibly successful,” Kiser said.
But the Quit Line, created in 2003 with Master Settlement money, has been struggling to stay alive since it no longer has money from that fund.
Mari-jean Siehl, chief of the Healthy Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation program, said the Quit Line has depended on the Master Settlement money and never has received funding from state coffers.
Her program had about $2 million left in its account, but the legislature said it had to be used to enforce the smokefree workplace law.
The Quit Line is now running on federal dollars, Siehl said, with only $320,000 left for this fiscal year , which should last only a few more months.
The Quit Line, once free to anyone who picked up the phone, has been limited to pregnant women, people who are uninsured and Medicaid recipients.
Siehl said the Quit Line’s monthly costs are between $25,000 and $40,000, depending on the number of calls. Callers who qualify can receive five phone counseling sessions and free nicotine patches.
Siehl is hoping that more federal money will become available. In the meantime, health officials have expanded the service by enlisting insurers for public employees and private companies, who now offer and pay for the benefit to their subscribers. This adds up to about 2.63 million Ohioans with access to the Quit Line. There are 8.8 million adults in the state.
The state is also making a list to put on its website of other free and low-cost cessation programs.
And Siehl said her office is working to launch a media campaign later this year called “What’s One More Cigarette? — if it can come up with federal funding.
Allan said raising awareness through education and advertising worked in Cuyahoga County in years past when it was getting more money from the state. Right now, he said, the county has only about $10,000 in federal funds for a tobacco-free school program in East Cleveland and Euclid.
“We have quite a bit of work to do in this country,” Allan said, “considering that tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.”
To view this story on the Plain Dealer website, click here.
Report: Ohio failing in tobacco control
By Misti Crane
The Columbus Dispatch Thursday January 19, 2012 4:08 AM
If you brought home grades like this, your mom would have been as angry as if she’d found a pack of cigarettes in your book bag.
Ohio once again brought home two F’s, a D and an A in the American Lung Association’s annual report on tobacco control. The state got the same grades last year.
Advocates who work to lower smoking rates have decried efforts in Ohio since 2008, when then-Gov. Ted Strickland and lawmakers took most of the state’s Tobacco Prevention Foundation money to use for other things. The rest has either been spent or allocated for enforcement of the state’s smoking ban, the only thing for which Ohio received an A in this year’s Lung Association report.
Ohio’s failing grades were for money spent on tobacco prevention and control and for smoking-cessation coverage. The future of the state’s quit line is in serious jeopardy, although Mari-jean Siehl, chief of the state’s tobacco-use prevention and cessation program, said last week that she’s trying to salvage it.
The association gave Ohio a D for its $1.25 cigarette tax.
Most states did a poor job, according to the report, the association’s 10th.
“When states give up any ground in this battle, the tobacco industry quickly jumps in to fill the void,” said Charles Connor, president and CEO of the Lung Association.
The report includes commendations for the federal government, which last year began to offer benefits covering stop-smoking efforts for employees and their families. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it will partially reimburse states for counseling services for Medicaid enrollees.
The administration, however, missed an opportunity when it gave states the ability to decide whether stop-smoking benefits would be included in their state insurance exchange starting in 2014, said Erika Sward, the association’s director of national advocacy.
To view this story on the The Columbus Dispatch website, click here.
Smoking costs Ohio $9.2 billion as health care costs rise, report says
Lack of prevention efforts raises health care costs, Lung Association says.
By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer
Ohio is failing to curtail tobacco use and help users quit, lapses that are driving up health care costs for businesses and taxpayers while costing the state at least $9.2 billion annually, the American Lung Association says in a new report out today.
Ohio received an “F” for spending just 2.1 percent of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for tobacco prevention and control, worse than any state except for New Jersey, which spent 1.9 percent of the CDC recommendation, the association said. The state also received an “F” for providing inadequate cessation coverage through Medicaid, its own health plans for workers and a quit line.
Meanwhile, Ohio’s adult smoking rate rose in 2010 to 22.5 percent, sixth highest in the nation. And 42 percent of Ohio’s Medicaid users smoke, said Shelly Kiser of the American Lung Association in Ohio. Tobacco-related illnesses have swelled expenses for the state’s Medicaid program, which accounts for about 30 percent of Ohio’s general operating spending.
“The state has really fallen down on the job,” Kiser said.
The association cited CDC data that showed smoking cost Ohio an estimated $4.4 billion in medical costs, another $1.4 billion in Medicaid expenses, and $4.7 billion in lost productivity from premature death. The net cost to the state is estimated at more than $9 billion.
In fiscal 2010, tobacco users in the state paid about $887 million in net taxes, according to the state Department of Taxation — money that was designated for purposes other than combating tobacco usage. Kiser said Ohio could reduce tobacco usage by setting aside 5 percent of those tax receipts for tobacco prevention and cessation, or by taxing tobacco products other than cigarettes at the same rate at which cigarettes are taxed.
Large budget shortfalls in recent years have forced the state to make difficult decisions related to tobacco control, said Mari-jean Siehl, chief of the state’s tobacco use prevention and cessation program. She acknowledged the state later this year could run out of federal funding for its quit line, which is used by the uninsured, Medicaid recipients and pregnant women. The state has applied for some additional funding, she said.
Ohio is trying to keep the frameworks for programs in place so they can be ramped back up when more funding is available, Siehl said. The state is also promoting smoke-free policies for multi-unit housing and school-sponsored events that are not held in schools, which are already tobacco-free.
The news for Ohio was not all bad. The state was one of 24 that received an “A” for its smoke-free law.
Lisa Zumstein, sanitarian program specialist with the state Department of Health’s indoor environment program, said Ohio’s smoke-free law is very strong, and said the public overall is happy with the law.
“By having this strong law that prohibits smoking in workplaces and public buildings, most people are not being exposed to second-hand smoke,” she said.
The report card also gave Ohio a “D” for levying a $1.25 tax on a pack of 20 cigarettes.
The association assigned passing grades in all four categories to only four states: Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma.
To view this story on the Dayton Daily News website, click here.
Ohio earns failing grades for tobacco-control efforts
Published: January 19, 2012 – 10:49 PM
Ohio earned failing grades in a new national report released Thursday that grades each state’s efforts to curb tobacco use.
The American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2012 gives Ohio “Fs” for its tobacco prevention and control spending and tobacco-cessation coverage. The state also fared poorly in the cigarette tax category, earning a “D.”
The state did earn top honors, however, for its efforts to go smoke-free.
In its report, the American Lung Association pointed out the state reduced funding for its Quitline last year so only pregnant women, uninsured residents and people who have the service covered by Medicaid or a private insurance program can participate, according to the American Lung Association report.
“The enormity of the challenge facing us requires combined resources at both the state and federal levels,” Shelly Kiser, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association’s Ohio chapter, said in a news release. “Failure isn’t an option because our end goal is removing tobacco’s chokehold on Ohioans’ health and that’s the life-and-death matter.”
— CHERYL POWELL
To view this story on the ohio.com website, click here.
Ohio loses ground in tobacco fight
Poor marks from lung association lead to renewed calls for tax hike
BY JIM PROVANCE, BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF
COLUMBUS — Once a national leader in the battle against tobacco, Ohio has surrendered some of its hard-fought gains, anti-smoking activists argued Thursday.
In the wake of a poor report card from the American Lung Association, Ohio activists renewed their call for hikes in tobacco-related taxes to fund smoking cessation programs and to keep the toll-free, state-run Quitline in operation.
In last year’s budget, state lawmakers continued funding for enforcement of the voter-approved ban on smoking at bars, restaurants, offices, and other indoor public venues.
But funding for cessation programs disappeared once the Ohio Supreme Court ruled two years ago that the state could seize tobacco settlement funds from a foundation it created and use the money for other purposes.
“Last year, we were on life support,” said Shelly Kiser, advocacy director of the American Lung Association in Ohio. “This year, lawmakers pulled the plug.”
As the state turns its focus more toward prevention under its rethinking of Medicaid, advocates are hoping the concept can include greater emphasis on smoking prevention and cessation.
They are asking the state to increase the cigarette tax, which raises more than $1 billion a year for the state coffers, or raise the tax on cigars, chewing tobacco, and other noncigarette products to equal that on cigarettes.
Absent that, they hope lawmakers would consider dedicating 5 percent of the existing cigarette tax to anti-smoking efforts.
Tax increases, however, have been a nonstarter in the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Mr. Kasich and lawmakers are planning to do a midcycle look this year at the state’s $55.8 billion, two-year budget enacted last year.
“We’ve lost a lot of funding,” said Stu Kerr, tobacco program coordinator with the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department. “We’ve got to get that funding back because clearly the state takes in money from the sale of tobacco, but the state down the road pays out hospital costs, which are horrendous.”
In a report released Thursday, the American Lung Association graded Ohio “F” for tobacco cessation efforts, “D” for tobacco taxation, and “F” for insurance coverage of smoking cessation programs.
The one bright spot was Ohio’s grade of “A” for its indoor smoking law. But even that is in question given a case pending before the Ohio Supreme Court challenging the law’s constitutionality and its enforcement.
Tess Pollick, spokesman for the Department of Health, said the state might be able to drag out its federal grant funding the Quitline because call volume has been lower recently. It is also applying for another grant.
The current budget holds $1 million for enforcement of the smoking ban.
“It’s important to look at the whole picture of tobacco,” Ms. Pollick said. “The Quitline is a wonderful tool, but we’re also getting at other factors. People smoke when they get stressed by a tough economy and a loss of a job, and that’s also being addressed. We approach it with a holistic approach to identify the factors that cause smoking and the tools to help people quit.”
To view this story on the Toledo Blade’s website, click here.
Lung association flunks Ohio anti-smoking efforts
Published: Fri, January 20, 2012 @ 9:53 a.m.
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio has received two failing grades in an annual report card on what the states are doing to control smoking.
The American Lung Association has given Ohio “F”s for the amount of money it spends to prevent smoking and for its coverage of programs to help people quit. The state also earned a “D” for its cigarette tax.
However, the group gave Ohio an “A” for smoke-free air. The state has had a ban on smoking in most indoor public places since 2007.
The lung association faults Ohio for cutting funding last year for anti-smoking programs, including the state’s tobacco Quit Line. It had to limit its free service to certain groups, including pregnant women.
Only four states — Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma — received all passing grades.
To view this story on the Vindy.com website, click here.
Lung association flunks Ohio anti-smoking efforts
The Associated Press 6:21 AM Friday, January 20, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio has received two failing grades in an annual report card on what the states are doing to control smoking.
The American Lung Association has given Ohio “F”s for the amount of money it spends to prevent smoking and for its coverage of programs to help people quit. The state also earned a “D” for its cigarette tax.
However, the group gave Ohio an “A” for smoke-free air. The state has had a ban on smoking in most indoor public places since 2007.
The lung association faults Ohio for cutting funding last year for anti-smoking programs, including the state’s tobacco Quit Line. It had to limit its free service to certain groups, including pregnant women.
Only four states — Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma — received all passing grades.
To view this story on the Dayton Daily News website, click here.
Foes of smoking find Ohio’s meager prevention funding a drag: editorial
Published: Friday, January 20, 2012, 8:32 PM
By The Plain Dealer Editorial Board
Ohio’s horrendously low grades for the third year in a row for failing to prevent smoking ought to light a fire under this slacker state. Smoking drives up medical costs for everybody and is one factor behind the state’s rising Medicaid bill.
More than 40 percent of Medicaid recipients are smokers, according to the American Lung Association, which calculates that treating patients with smoking-related diseases costs the state about $9 billion annually.
In its annual State of Tobacco Control Report, the association gives Ohio an “F” for smoking prevention because, while smoking rates are higher here than in the United States as a whole, Ohio spends no state money on effective prevention efforts.
Shelly Kiser, director of advocacy in Ohio for the lung association, says a $6.20 pack of cigarettes creates $9.19 in health care costs.
One way to keep new smokers from joining the pack and help longtime smokers quit is something this page has called for before: Raise taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products, many of which are taxed at an inexplicably low rate.
Because Ohio diverted money from its tobacco prevention efforts to fill budget gaps, smokers who want to quit have few places to turn for help. The Ohio Tobacco Quit Line is open for now, but it’s running out of money (the state is applying for a federal grant) and its services are limited to Medicaid recipients, the uninsured and pregnant women.
Ohio ought to be proud of the “A” it earned from the lung association for its statewide ban on smoking indoors, which makes dining out a breath of fresh air. The legislature recently boosted enforcement by granting the Ohio Department of Health $1 million for each of the next two fiscal years, starting July 1, 2011.
But Ohio lawmakers ought to be ashamed of their failure to fund smoking cessation in the face of rising smoking rates. New taxes just on cigarettes would raise $347 million a year to support anti-smoking measures, the Quit Line and more, according to Kiser.
Think of it as a user fee levied on those who need it most.
To view this story on the Plain Dealer’s website, click here.