# Question about Obamacare and cigarettes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698 "2014-02-19T11:43:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698/1 "2014-02-19T11:43:41Z")
I thought of something this afternoon – A couple of decades ago, cigarette prices were raised **dramatically** in California. The explanation went that smoking resulted in increased costs to the State due to smoking-related health problems in uninsured people who would then end up having the State pay their medical bills. IIRC, the several-dollar, all-at-once increase in price was supposed to go into a special fund to offset these costs. Now that every person, **by law** , must have health insurance – where will that money go? I know damn well they are never going to roll back cigarette prices. Will the tobacco companies now get to just keep all that extra money? ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698/2 "2014-02-19T11:52:23Z")
The state still has to pay for health care. So the answer is nothing changes. The state covers health insurance for the poor residents and subsidies people of lower income. They take the income from tobacco taxes and use it to pay for health care. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698/3 "2014-02-19T12:16:38Z")
It was a tax increase rather than a price increase, so the money goes to the state, not tobacco companies. The only decades-old cigarette tax increase I can find is [Proposition 99](http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_99,_Tobacco_Tax_Increase_%281988%29) from 1988, which levied a tax of 25 cents on each pack. The revenue from this **dramatic** 25 cent per pack tax is [is earmarked for](http://www.boe.ca.gov/lawguides/business/current/btlg/vol3/ctptl/ctptl-30122.html): > [@](#): > > (1) Tobacco-related school and community health education programs. > > (2) Tobacco-related disease research. > > (3) Medical and hospital care and treatment of patients who cannot afford to pay for those services, and for whom payment will not be made through any private coverage or by any program funded in whole by the federal government. > > (4) Programs for fire prevention; environmental conservation; protection, restoration, enhancement, and maintenance of fish, waterfowl, and wildlife habitat areas; and enhancement of state and local park and recreation purposes. 1, 2, and 4 are still perfectly valid even if you assume that there are no longer people without health insurance, and that health insurance is always covering 100% of every patient’s bill. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698/4 "2014-02-19T12:50:19Z")
Made me laugh this did. I am not a smoker, but if I smoked 20 a day, the government would get around £2175 of my hard-earned as tax every year. (Just under £6.00 a packet) This would require me to earn over £2800 before tax. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698/5 "2014-02-20T19:16:27Z")
Trying to keep it as GQ as possible, I think it is universally agreed that these promises of tobacco tax money paying for health care for the poor, and gambling winnings going to pay for schools are simply political shell games. The state already pays for education and the poor, and if they need more money for these or any other programs, they could just as easily raise the income tax, the sales tax, or the gasoline tax. The sales pitch of tying these particular funds to this particular program is an accounting trick that the government really doesn’t take seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698/6 "2014-02-21T14:21:08Z")
Especially since governments almost invariably cut general revenue funding by the exact amount that lottery funding provides. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698/7 "2014-02-21T14:37:55Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Trying to keep it as GQ as possible, I think it is universally agreed that these promises of tobacco tax money paying for health care for the poor, and gambling winnings going to pay for schools are simply political shell games. Not to mention that overall, cigarette smoking decreases health care spending. [Cite](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1210319). Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698/8 "2014-02-21T14:44:21Z")
That link is not a citation for your claim. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-obamacare-and-cigarettes/681698/9 "2014-02-21T14:47:31Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Not to mention that overall, cigarette smoking decreases health care spending. [Cite](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1210319). > > Regards, > Shodan Giving all cancer patients a .45 round to the head would decrease health care spending too, but I don’t think any of us think that would be a good way to cut costs.