Republicans killed cigarette-tax hike

It really is difficult to believe that The Post and Courier could get something so wrong. I'm referring to the May 27 editorial titled "Health-care help up in smoke." The editorial ignores relevant facts on how the Republican-controlled General Assembly once again failed to enact meaningful health-insurance coverage for South Carolina families by raising the nation's lowest cigarette tax and incorrectly implies that Democrats killed a cigarette tax increase.

First, the claim that the House plan would be eligible to receive federal matching dollars is misleading. In reality no one knows if the plan would receive a three to one match. South Carolina would have to seek and be granted a waiver from the federal government. And the fact that a current waiver request that was submitted in 2005 is still pending approval, made the House plan unlikely to provide timely relief for South Carolina's uninsured.

The House's private insurance industry driven plan is modeled on the plan Oklahoma enacted in 2004. And after five years with this program, Oklahoma has seen only 13,348 individuals covered. Last year Democrats helped pass a cigarette tax plan that could have covered an additional 113,000 uninsured adults and an additional 70,000 children. South Carolinians can thank Gov. Mark Sanford for destroying that opportunity.

Secondly, implying that Democrats killed the cigarette tax this year is cockamamie. We have been advocating for an increase in the nation's lowest cigarette tax for nearly a decade. I was the senator who led the Senate Finance Committee to adopt an increase in the cigarette tax this session.

But each time Democrats put forth a meaningful health insurance plan that actually covers people, Republicans strike down the plan and attack it with coded language like "expansion of entitlement programs." The reality is that Republicans again killed the cigarette tax this year. The record shows that Gov. Sanford's allies in the state Senate used procedural moves to stall debate on the cigarette tax and run out the clock.

Finally, I joined my colleagues and offered a counter proposal to raise the cigarette tax by 50 cents per pack and establish the South Carolina Healthcare Trust Fund. While we continue to debate a plan to maximize coverage and watch Washington debate health care reform, having an established fund would put our state in a strong position to act quickly when all sides reach agreement on how to solve the health care crisis gripping our state and our country.

Sen. John Land

S.C. Senate Minority Leader

Columbia