By Sarah Ladd
Kentucky Lantern
Kentucky would cut funding for tobacco cessation over the next two years under the state budget approved Thursday by the House, prompting public health advocates to urge the Senate to change course.
Doug Hogan, the government relations director in Kentucky for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said the Senate should “make tobacco prevention and cessation a priority” now that House Bill 500, the budget bill, is in its court.
He wants to see $4 million in cessation each year, which is more than double what the House has approved.
“Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in Kentucky, including 37.2% of cancer deaths, and Kentucky has the second-highest smoking-attributable cancer death rate in the country,” Hogan said in a statement. “The need for robust investments in tobacco prevention and cessation programs in the Commonwealth has never been greater.”
The House version of the budget — which is still subject to edits on the Senate side — allocates just shy of $1.8 million in the 2026-2027 fiscal year and about $1.6 million in the 2027-2028 fiscal year.
The 2024 budget allocated nearly $1.9 million for 2024-2025 and $2 million in the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Smoking costs Kentucky $6.3 billion every year in lost productivity and puts a $634 million dent in Medicaid, according to The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which also reports about 37% of cancer deaths each year are from smoking.
More than 8,000 minors try cigarettes for the first time each year, according to The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. About 5% of high school students smoke while nearly 20% use e-cigarettes, according to that organization’s data. Smoking also kills nearly 9,000 Kentuckians every year and costs the state billions in health care costs.
This session, lawmakers have another opportunity to move e-cigarette settlement dollars away from the general fund and into a fund for prevention and cessation. Should they do that, Kentucky’s cessation efforts could get a $6 million boost.
The House approved its budget bill by a vote of 81-18.
