March 08, 2010

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Doctors and an anti-smoking group
discuss efforts to raise South Carolina's 7-cent-a-pack cigarette
tax that is the lowest in the nation.

Representatives of the South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative and
doctors gather at the Medical University of South Carolina on
Monday to talk about increasing the tax and the need for money for
tobacco-use prevention.

Budget writers in the state House of Representatives have
approved plans to increase the tax by 30 cents a pack.

That plan would raise more than $88 million with $85 million of
that to be used for a reserve fund to cover future Medicaid costs.