SENATE OVERRIDES GOVERNOR’S VETO OF PREVENTION FOR TOBACCO-RELATED ILLNESS

Bipartisan support to help Mainers quit smoking

AUGUSTA – This morning in a 31-4 vote, the Senate voted to override Governor LePage’s veto of a bill that will make it easier for Mainers to quit smoking.

“Unless you are making your money off Marlboros, I don’t know why anyone would be against helping people quit smoking,” said Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson of Allagash. “Tobacco-related illnesses hurt our state and hurt our families. We should be doing everything we can to help people quit smoking, including passing this bill.”

The bill requires MaineCare to cover the cost of tobacco cessation treatment for MaineCare members and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to pursue opportunities for federal reimbursement of those costs.

According to a report by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 42 percent of MaineCare members are smokers. Sixty-seven percent of those smokers report wanting to quit. Tobacco-related illness accounts for $216 million in annual costs by Maine taxpayers.

“In both the short-run and the long-run, it makes sense to provide the encouragement and resources necessary to help people quit smoking,” said Democratic Senator Margaret Craven, the Senate Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. “Illnesses and deaths from tobacco use are avoidable and we should be doing everything we can to help people quit. This measure is not an experiment. By enacting a similar law, Massachusetts’s successfully reduced smoking among their Medicaid population by 20 percent.”

The bill received the support of seven prominent health organizations in addition to multiple health care officials in the industry. No one testified against the bill.

The bill won unanimous support in the Health and Human Services committee and all but one representative voted in favor of the measure. It was passed unanimously “under the hammer” in the Senate.

This is the sixth veto of Governor LePage’s that the 126th Legislature has overridden. Last year, the Legislature overrode Governor LePage’s veto of the state’s two-year budget, as well as vetoes of a comprehensive omnibus energy bill, a measure sponsored by Senator Emily Cain of Orono to provide funding to the STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) Council of Maine, a bill adjusting fees for county registries of deeds, and a bill to requires warrants for cell phone tracking.

LD 386, “An Act To Reduce Tobacco-related Illness and Lower Health Care Costs in MaineCare,” will now become law.

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