Puff Cigar Discussion Forums

cman78 · 10-16-2007, 12:59 PM

Below is the response I got from my congressman. I used CA's email utility to send my request that he not support the current SCHIP bill. Oh well I didn't vote for him the first time.

Thank you for contacting me about the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act of 2007. The CHAMP Act reauthorizes and improves the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), providing health care to 11 million kids, including five million who currently lack health insurance. As you may know, the legislation included an increase in the federal tobacco tax as part of the funding.

The federal tax rate on cigarettes increased less than inflation or increases in wholesale or retail prices of cigarettes. In 1960, the federal tax was 1/3 of the average cigarette retail price. Today at 39 cents, federal tax accounts for less than 1/10 of the retail price. Importantly, studies have shown that an increase in cigarette taxes would both save billions in health care costs and reduce tobacco use, especially among children.

The House version of the SCHIP reauthorization also included the elimination of overpayments to insurance companies by Medicare to pay for the legislation. This enabled the House to include a smaller increase in the tobacco tax than the one included in the Senate version of the bill.

When the bill appeared for a vote before the full House, I supported this legislation. I believe insuring every American child is an achievable and affordable goal, and the CHAMP Act takes aggressive steps to meet this goal.

Once again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me again in the future if I can be of further assistance on this or any other issue.