Letter to the editor: Cigarette tax is key for our community

As the president and CEO of McAlester (Okla.) Regional Health Center, I usually don’t like seeing taxes go up. But I hope our state legislature passes the $1.50 increase in cigarette taxes. 

Here’s why: McAlester Regional Health Center is a key economic engine for our community. The current budget crisis threatens its viability. 

Hospitals are required to serve anyone who visits an emergency room, including those who can’t pay. This cost, combined with potential cuts to provider reimbursement rates from the state, makes it difficult for hospitals to stay afloat. 

Hospitals employ my customers, neighbors and friends. Losing a hospital would be a terrible blow to our community. 

We’ve seen this impact throughout rural towns in Oklahoma. Besides the economic costs, it is life threatening. When there is no hospital you to have to drive long distances to receive emergency care, deliver a baby or get routine treatment. 

Raising the cigarette tax would generate more than $184 million a year for our hospitals, mental health and the Department of Human Services. There is a common-sense solution, and 74 percent of Oklahomans support it. 

Increasing the cigarette tax is also the most effective way to reduce smoking. Non-smoking employees miss work less and cost less to insure. Smoking-related diseases impact my hospital’s bottom line, which is another reason I support policies that reduce smoking. 

The state’s balance sheet is unacceptable. We must cut costs where we can, but we also need to bring in more money. The cigarette tax achieves both. It raises revenue for health care while reducing Oklahoma’s annual smoking-related health care costs of $1.62 billion. 

Join me in encouraging our state’s leaders to raise the cigarette tax by $1.50 this year to fund health care and sustain local communities.

McAlester Regional Health Center is a 171-bed acute care public trust teaching hospital with a primary service area comprised of eight counties inSoutheast Oklahoma. The Hospital offers an array of clinics and outpatient programs, and serves as Southeast Oklahoma’s Level 3 Trauma and Level 2 Primary Stroke Center.

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