Pennsylvania Lawmakers Agree on Plan to Spend Tobacco Settlement, Including Money for Rx Drugs, Covering Uninsured

"After nearly two years of wrangling," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R) and state lawmakers have agreed on a plan to spend the state's $11.3 billion share of the 1998 national tobacco settlement on a variety of health-related initiatives, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Pennsylvania has already received $853 million of its expected share, and expects to collect about $425 million annually for 25 years. Under the plan, the state will spend all of the settlement money on health-related initiatives, including prescription drug benefits for seniors, increased hospital reimbursements and expanded coverage for the uninsured. Some of the efforts are outlined below:

• Expanding health coverage: About 30% of the funds will be used to fund a new health insurance program for uninsured adults who are not offered employer-sponsored coverage;
• Medical research: Nineteen percent of the money will go toward medical research at universities and hospitals;
• Home care for the elderly: About 13% of the funding would be used to provide home and community-based health care for the state's seniors;
• Anti-smoking programs: Smoking prevention and cessation programs would receive about 12% of the money;
• Hospital reimbursements: Ten percent of the funds would earmarked for reimbursements to hospitals that care for uninsured patients;
• Prescription drugs: The plan would allocate 8% of the funding toward expanding eligibility for PACENET, the state's prescription drug-assistance program for seniors. The plan would extend eligibility to higher-income seniors.