November 18, 2006
Daniels' insurance plan
Pricier smokes would help fund health care
Governor gives cigarette tax increase another try
By Mary Beth SchneiderGov. Mitch Daniels' plan to increase cigarette taxes to provide government-subsidized health-care coverage to low-income, uninsured Hoosiers was praised Friday as a good, albeit first, step.
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Using the smaller number and a 50-cent cigarette tax increase, 360,000 people would remain without health coverage.
One of them is Eric Brooks, a 50-year-old self-employed computer programmer working for the state on contract. He lost his health insurance when the company he was working for closed its Indianapolis office. As a diabetic, Brooks has been unable to find private insurance.
Brooks' income puts him over the program's ceiling, although Roob said the state could make the plan available for people like Brooks if they pay the full premium without a state subsidy.
Brooks is paying about $300 a month out of his pocket for his medical supplies and needs and has avoided getting the treatment he knows he may need for colon polyps that were discovered a few years ago.
"I can't afford the surgery if they were cancerous," he said.
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