Messages Focus on Health Benefits of Higher Cigarette Prices
EAGAN, Minn., April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Several of the state's leading
health advocacy organizations today launched a statewide advertising
campaign to emphasize the health benefits of the 75-cent tobacco price
increase. The radio and newspaper ads highlight the impact that higher
tobacco prices have on preventing kids from smoking and helping more people
quit smoking.
The advertisements are sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Minnesota, the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association of
Minnesota, American Heart Association, Minnesota Medical Association, AARP,
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Minnesota Smoke Free Coalition.
"It's good health policy to have higher cigarette prices. It prevents
kids from starting to smoke and it encourages adults to quit," said Marc
Manley, M.D., vice president and medical director of population health at
Blue Cross.
Calls to Blue Cross' cessation help line increased dramatically after
the 75-cent price increase went into effect on August 1. Enrollment in the
program doubled from July to August and enrollment in the following months
remained noticeably higher than normal. Interest in cessation services
provided by other health plans and organizations has also increased since
the policy went into effect.
Smoking kills more than 5,600 Minnesotans every year and costs the
state nearly $2 billion annually in excess medical charges, according to an
economic impact study conducted by Blue Cross last year. The Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids estimates that a rollback of the 75-cent increase will
mean that 43,000 kids who are alive today will become smokers and 13,700 of
them will die from smoking. The state also will incur $861 million in new
long-term health care expenditures from new adult and youth smoking
increases.
The advertising campaign comes at a time when the tobacco fee passed by
the Minnesota Legislature last year is in jeopardy. Tobacco companies have
filed suit to block the state from implementing the 75-cent fee on tobacco,
claiming that the fee violates the terms of a 1998 agreement with the State
of Minnesota. The Minnesota Supreme Court is considering the case.
"The Legislature approved the additional fee on tobacco prices last
year as part of a budget solution," said Manley. "But it should keep the
higher prices -- regardless of what the court decides -- as a matter of
good health policy."
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with headquarters in the St.
Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota's first health
plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today: to promote a
wider, more economical and timely availability of health services for the
people of Minnesota. A not-for-profit, taxable organization, Blue Cross is
the largest health plan based in Minnesota, covering 2.6 million members in
Minnesota and nationally through its health plans or plans administered by
its affiliated companies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an
independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association,
headquartered in Chicago. Go to http://www.bluecrossmn.com to learn more
about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.
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SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
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Related links:
http://www.bluecrossmn.com
CONTACT:
Karl Oestreich, +1-651-662-1502, or Karen
Lyons, +1-651-662-1415, both of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Minnesota
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