Michigan Tobacco Settlement Fund Initiative ‘Misleading,’ Would Hurt Health Industry, Editorial Says

Michigan residents should vote against Proposal 4, a ballot measure that would amend the Michigan Constitution to require the state to spend most of its $8.5 billion share of the national tobacco settlement on health care, according to a Detroit News editorial (Detroit News, 10/30). Michigan currently uses the funds for scholarships, a prescription drug program for seniors and medical research. Under Proposal 4, the state would spend 90% of the tobacco settlement funds on general patient care at hospitals, nursing homes and hospices. In addition, the measure would allocate about $45 million per year for anti-tobacco programs (Montemurri, Detroit Free Press, 10/18). The editorial, however, criticizes Proposal 4 as "downright misleading" and a "raid on the public treasury by certain segments and individuals of the health care industry." The editorial adds that the health care industry has provided only divided support for the measure. Some in the industry have said that Proposal 4 favors high-revenue hospitals over those that treat a higher percentage of low-income patients. For example, according to the editorial, Detroit Medical Center, which accounts for more than 20% of state Medicaid hospital expenditures, would receive only about 7.3% of the tobacco settlement funds allocated to hospitals under the measure. The editorial concludes that Michigan residents should vote against Proposal 4 to "save the state from a dangerous precedent" and to "give the medical community time to sort out health care needs and appeal for support to the new Legislature that takes office Jan. 1" (Detroit News, 10/30).