State would gain with tobacco tax increase

ay 13 is the 25th annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive, the largest one-day food drive in America. Since 1993, letter carriers in central and western Oklahoma have collected more than 9.7 million pounds of food — the equivalent of more than 8 million meals — to feed our neighbors with inconsistent access to food.

During the past four years, the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma has seen a 40 percent increase in the number of clients served each week. Letter carriers are counting on you to help them “Stamp out Hunger” by donating canned food during the drive.

Simply leave a plastic bag filled with canned food donations by your mailbox on May 13 before your mail is picked up. Your letter carrier will do the rest.

Most-needed items include peanut butter, canned meats, vegetables and fruit. To the parent without any food in the pantry, a few cans of food can be the difference between feeding their children and sending them to bed hungry. Financial contributions are also welcome; visit www.feedinghope. org. Every dollar donated provides the equivalent of five meals.

The majority of those served by the Regional Food Bank are the working poor, seniors living on fixed incomes and children. Many find themselves living paycheck to paycheck and have to make difficult decisions about whether to pay their bills, buy medicine, or put food on the table.

With your support, the Regional Food Bank can continue to provide enough food to feed more than 126,000 Oklahomans every week. Without that support, children, families and seniors will go hungry.

The U.S. Postal Service, National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association support the Letter Carriers’ Food Drive. As letter carriers, we are honored to have this opportunity to help feed our neighbors. Join us in the fight against hunger in Oklahoma next Saturday. s Oklahoma’s leading cause of death with a hefty annual price tag of $1.62 billion in health care costs, cigarette smoking is costing our state in lives and dollars.

At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma (BCBSOK), we have been working for more than 77 years to improve the health of Oklahomans and build a stronger health care system. Although significant efforts have been in place for decades, smoking continues to be a serious health and economic issue.

You may have heard of an effort to increase the tax on each pack of cigarettes sold in Oklahoma. The proposal would use a portion of the tobacco tax revenue collected to be used for a revenue collected to provide core health care services. In the first full year of a tobacco tax being collected, the estimated revenue would reach $180 million, allowing muchneeded funds to be directed toward critical health services across Oklahoma.

Tobacco use greatly contributes to our state’s poor health, consistently placing Oklahoma among the lowest-scoring health rankings in the nation according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In turn, tobacco use takes a toll on our health care costs, businesses and communities.

The Department of Health found that businesses lose more than $156 million annually to employee absenteeism due to smoking-related illness. On a national level, a recent study by Ohio State University found that employers spend, on average, nearly $6,000 more per year on employees who smoke versus those who don’t.

At BCBSOK, the amount we pay on total health care claims for tobacco users is 40 percent higher than for nontobacco users in the same peer category (based on internal data from customers who buy individual health insurance coverage). Whether or not you smoke, you, as a tax-paying Oklahoman, are also paying for this burden. The Health Department estimates that Oklahoma residents pay on average $900 annually in federal and state taxes to cover the costs of smoking-related illnesses.

Oklahoma's health care infrastructure feels the pressure of limited funds and unlimited need. The tobacco tax would help reduce annual health care costs by $1.75 billion, according to the Health Department. This would enhance our state’s revenue and allow us to continue to provide health care coverage to all Oklahomans.

You have the ability to give Oklahomans a greater opportunity for health and economic growth. We at Blue Cross and Blue Shield are committed to reducing the high health care costs and preventable deaths associated with smoking, and support this effort. I encourage you to show your support and to contact your elected officials, both in the House and Senate. You can find your state legislator at oklegislature.gov.