AMCNO Joins Group Asking the Ohio Supreme Court to Block State’s Diversion of $258 million

The American Legacy Foundation and other groups have asked the Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday to block the state's diversion of $258 million for purposes other than smoking cessation and prevention. The American Legacy Foundation, as expected, formally asked justices to review a ruling last month from the 10th District Court of Appeals which upheld a decision of Governor Ted Strickland and the General Assembly to spend the money on Medicaid and other health care programs. Joining the foundation in seeking Supreme Court review were former Attorney General Betty Montgomery, former Senate President Richard Finan, and former Director Nick Baird of the Department of Health. They were instrumental in creation of the Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Endowment Fund. They told the court that the General Assembly specifically intended it be permanently dedicated to tobacco use prevention and cessation programs. They were part of a bipartisan committee created in 1999 to determine appropriate use of the $10 billion Ohio was to receive as a result of a settlement between states and national tobacco product manufacturers.

Also filing a friend of the court brief in support of American Legacy were the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland & Northern Ohio, the American Heart Association, the American Heart Association Great Rivers Affiliate, the American Lung Association, the American Lung Association Of Ohio, the American Cancer Society Ohio Division, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the Ohio State Medical Association, the Association Of Ohio Health Commissioners, the Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids, and the Ohio Public Health Association. 

This action came in response to the New Year's Eve decision of the Ohio Court of Appeals of Franklin County, Tenth Appellate District. In that ruling, the appeals court reversed a lower court's order permanently enjoining the State from dissolving the Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Endowment Fund. The 1998 MSA provided more than $200 billion to be paid to the states over 26 years in recognition of the lives and money lost to tobacco. To ensure that a substantial portion of its recovery was spent specifically on tobacco control, Ohio established OTPF and created an endowment for it. 

Research shows that tobacco takes an enormous toll on Ohio - both in lives lost and dollars spent. Ohio's smoking rate is 20.1 percent, just below the national average of 20.6 percent, thanks in large measure to the work of Ohio Tobacco Prevention Fund. Smoking costs Ohio more than $4 billion annually in health care costs and another $4.7 billion annually in smoking-related productivity loss (in 2004 dollars). A 2007 report by Legacy found that Ohio's Medicaid system could save $550 million within five years if all Medicaid beneficiaries who smoke, quit. Ohio would reap the third-largest savings of all the states, making the case that despite this economic downturn in Ohio, keeping these funds focused on tobacco control is a wiser long-term investment, ultimately saving Ohioans' lives and money.