Group Launches Coalition for a Smoke Free Tomorrow

A group of health, business and community leaders are launching the Coalition for a Smoke Free Tomorrow.  

The statewide alliance will support state and local policy changes to reduce tobacco use and protect Kentuckians from secondhand smoke.  

Top on the list of those policy initiatives is increasing Kentucky's cigarette tax by at least $1 per pack.  

Illnesses related to tobacco use and secondhand smoke cost Kentucky nearly 9,000 lives and $1.92 billion in health care expenditures every year.  

Nearly $590 million of those annual costs are covered by Medicaid. The tax burden on every household to cover these costs is $1,168 annually.  

Smoking also costs Kentucky businesses an estimated $2.79 billion annually in lost productivity.