Gov. Mitch Daniels is proposing a 25-cent tax increase on cigarettes, he announced during a press conference today at Ball Memorial Hospital.
Increased cigarette prices will help provide protective and preventive healthcare to uninsured Indiana families, he said. Daniels said increasing cigarette prices is just the first step to his plan for a healthier Indiana.
"Protection, prevention and peace of mind are the primary goals of the plan," Daniels said.
Daniels said he'd like to focus on reducing the number of smokers, providing immunizations for children, and providing healthcare for the uninsured.
"My staff and I felt these three things we should deal with first," Daniels said.
The money from the increased cigarette tax would go into a Personal Wellness Responsibility, or POWER, account, which would provide about 120,000 uninsured people with medical coverage and lower costs of immunizations for children.
The extra money will also provide the state with money to restore anti-smoking programs and offer smoking cessation classes.
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