Illinois raises cigarette tax

Ill. (WTHI) - The cost of a pack of cigarettes in Illinois will soon go up sending an extra dollar out of pockets.

Lawmakers say the increase to the cigarette tax will help fund health care for low income families in programs like the state's Medicaid program.

We sat down with Dr. James Turner D.O. of Marshall, Illinois to find out what's happened to the state's health care.

He says that the number of people that qualify for low income care doubled in the last ten years, leaving a huge budget gap for the state to pay; part of their restructuring of the budget included this tobacco tax.

Through matching funds from the federal government, they hope to raise around 700 million dollars for the states program.

But, part two of their solution means major cuts to Illinois' low income health care program. He says that could include the state no longer funding expensive surgeries like knee replacements or cardiac bypasses.

He also adds that some folks may no longer qualify for state's health care.

"If people qualified at 120 percent of the poverty level it may go up to 200. So this is going to be probably thousands of Medicaid recipients who will no longer qualify because their financial income, who would have qualified last year,” Turner said.