Boston Area News

BOSTON (AP) ― Health advocates said Monday that New England states have failed to deliver on a pledge to use settlement money from tobacco companies to pay for prevention programs, with most states funding programs at just one fifth of recommended levels.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids released a report detailing how New England states will spend only 2.3 percent of the $1.8 billion in tobacco settlement and tax revenue on tobacco prevention programs this year when these programs save both lives and money by containing health care costs by preventing tobacco-related illness.

"We know for a fact that these programs save lives and reduce health care costs," said Don Gudaitis, CEO of the American Cancer Society's New England Division. "As more and more Americans face a threat of lack of access to health care and lack of access to health insurance, underfunding the most proven way to reduce health care costs is all the more intolerable."

Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island are funding tobacco prevention programs at less than 20 percent of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations, according to the report.

The report also said Maine and Vermont are the only New England states funding tobacco prevention at half the CDC's recommended levels.

In total this year, the report said, funding for New England tobacco prevention programs is $42.6 million, compared with the $197.2 million the CDC recommends for the six states.

Under a settlement reached in 1998, tobacco companies are required to make annual payments in perpetuity to 46 states after the states sued to recover health care costs. At the time, state officials said they would use the money for health care and anti-smoking campaigns.

In Massachusetts, a widening budget gap has led Gov. Deval Patrick to propose cutting the state's tobacco control budget from $12.1 million to $7.5 million for next year's budget.

Jennifer Manley, a Massachusetts Department of Public Health spokeswoman, said state officials would like to have more funding available for prevention but the money is going to the general fund because lawmakers decided not to dedicate specific amounts of settlement funding for tobacco control programs.

Annemarie Beardsworth, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Department of Health, said the department remains focused on tobacco prevention and cessation but officials have to ensure all public health areas have sufficient funding. She also pointed to Rhode Island's strict smoking laws, which ban smoking in most public places and businesses.

Warren Quinlan, a 62-year-old Roxbury, Mass., native who completed two tours in Vietnam, was one person who benefited from a state program. Quinlan said he was able to kick his nearly 2 1/2-pack-a-day habit in November through the Massachusetts Veterans Smoking Cessation Program, which provided free nicotine patches.

Russet Breslau, executive director of Tobacco Free Mass said the program -- which runs until June 30 -- costs $140 per smoker with more than 2,300 smokers calling for patches. She added it saves $1,570 per smoker in health care costs over five years, but similar programs would be eliminated with proposed budget cuts.

"For some of us, it's really hard if you've been smoking this long," Quinlan said. "Maybe we did lower the cost of health care in the state of Massachusetts because it's either billions now or billions later."

Public health officials in Connecticut and New Hampshire didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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