By John Byrne, Post-Tribune staff writer
INDIANAPOLIS -- A 40-cent cigarette tax increase to pay for state health care reform appeared closer Wednesday, but a lot of legislative politicking stands in the way of a final agreement.
House Republican leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, told the House Public Health Committee he could all but guarantee GOP support of the increase to fund the Healthy Indiana plan, if the House passes Senate Bill 503.
Bosma offered an amendment to the bill adding the 40 cents-per-pack increase to fund the healthcare initiative.
Based on Gov. Mitch Daniels' Healthy Indiana proposal, the bill would use revenue from the increase to give uninsured Hoosiers preventive care of up to $500 annually and $300,000 of annual insurance coverage with up to $1 million of lifetime coverage.
They would also get a $1,100 Personal Wellness Responsibility Account, or POWER Account, for medical costs and would be in complete control of the money.
But state Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, wondered why the Republicans are suddenly stepping up with serious support for the plan.
Brown's bill calling for a 25-cent increase in the cigarette tax was defeated in the House in February.
Daniels has since publicly pressured lawmakers to reach agreement on a cigarette package, and Bosma told the committee a compromise had been reached.
But Brown said Bosma was simply grandstanding and trying to take credit for the health care funding.
Noting that spending bills cannot originate in the Senate, Brown said Bosma should have pressed his party harder to support Brown's House bill when he had the chance.
Nonetheless, Brown guaranteed a cigarette tax to fund the Healthy Indiana plan will pass the General Assembly this session.
"The language is good," he said of SB 503. "We just need to massage things a bit, and get this into a House bill, where it belongs."