Jun 22, 2021 / 08:01 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Every year Indiana receives an estimated $120 million from the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Fund (TMSF), but only .06% of that money specifically goes toward the Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Program.
“There’s a lag between the bucket of money and the process,” State Rep. Greg Porter said.
Currently, only $7.5 million of TMSF is spent on tobacco use prevention. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation on how much
A majority of the fund is spent on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The funding from the settlement for CHIP will end in 2022.
“We needed to take care of our children,” Porter said. “There were a lot of children that were falling by the wayside that did not have health insurance.”