Lantern Staff Illustration
Beginning April 1, student smokers will be handing over more cash to feed their nicotine addictions because of a bill President Obama signed in early February.
Reauthorizing and improving the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the bill will make health insurance available to an additional 11 million children across America. This is Obama's first step in his promise to guarantee every American health insurance.
In order to pay for this additional health insurance, the cigarette tax is more than doubling. These new federal excise taxes will rise from 39 cents to $1 per pack of cigarettes.
While the bill is projected to provide an additional $32.8 billion by Sept. 30, 2013, students who are smokers may have a hard time keeping up with their habit.
"It's most unfortunate because cigarettes cost so much already … it's not cool," said Tyler Eberhart, a junior in English. "There's got to be other ways they can tax, try another way or something." Smoking is the leading cause of preventable morbidity and premature mortality in the United States, according to the American Lung Association. Approximately one in five deaths in the U.S. is a result of smoking.
Despite the goal of universal health care, some students see cracks in the details of the bill that make it less heroic.
"It's strange because I view it as a tax on the working class; the majority of upper class people don't smoke and the people that do smoke are the ones who need that assistance. They are the ones who are going to end up paying for it," said Dan Ewing, a senior in anthropology.
Still, others agree with Obama's vision, seeing the bill as a win-win situation.
"I feel like the cost doesn't outweigh the benefit. Children are getting health care, the benefit definitely outweighs the cost," said Ryan Marchese, a sophomore in international studies. Local smoke shops are taking a hard hit as a result of the bill. Premal Chheda, the proprietor of Smoker's Haven on North High Street, is expecting a drop in sales. After reminiscing on the drop in sales after the smoking ban went into effect in 2006, he pointed out the danger this bill holds.
"Trying to fund any sort of program with tobacco is very dangerous because less and less people are smoking. They are not going to be able to keep up with the funding because of fewer tobacco sales," Chheda said.
Whether cigarette sales drop or not is yet to be determined. Some students see the extra cost as more of a nuisance than an actual reason to quit.
"I think people are just going to complain, smokers are stable. You raise tax on cigarettes, it's really not going to change anything … people are still going to buy what they want to buy," Ewing said.
Only 5.6 percent of Ohio State students use tobacco one to three times a week, according to a 2007 CORE survey. Fifty percent of OSU students have never used tobacco.
Lindsay Minnema can be reached at minnema.1@osu.edu.
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