ACS Report Says Indiana Not Spending Enough On Tobacco Cessation, Colorectal Screenings

The American Cancer Society says Indiana has missed opportunities to raise cigarette taxes and provide funding for cancer screenings.

(Undated) - In 2019, over 35,000 Indiana residents will be diagnosed with cancer and over 13,000 will die from the disease. 

A new American Cancer Society report is grading how Indiana's policies fight against cancer. Cathy Callaway, from the ACS’ Cancer Action Network, says the Hoosier state is lagging behind other states in preventing the disease.

“The state’s grade on tobacco taxes is alarming, especially considering 30.6 percent of cancer deaths in Indiana are attributable to tobacco,” says Callaway.

This year, the Indiana general assembly energy failed to pass a $1.50 per pack cigarette tax. That’s why the annual How Do You Measure Up? Report determined the state’s cigarette tax rates need progress.

The report also found that Indiana only meets high marks for three out of eight policy areas that can decrease cancer incidence and mortality. Those included increased access to Medicaid, access to palliative care, and Medicaid coverage of tobacco cessation.

Indiana is among just 12 states which provide comprehensive tobacco cessation coverage in Medicaid that includes telephone counseling, including reimbursement through the state quitline, and all seven FDA-approved tobacco cessation medications.

Callaway says Indiana could also improve in funding tobacco prevention programs, indoor tanning restrictions and pain medication policies. In those categories, the state rated as “falling short”.

According to the report, the state is allocating only $7.5 million for tobacco prevention funding in fiscal year 2019, only about 10 percent of the $73.5 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Callaway says tobacco use leads to $2.93 billion in healthcare costs in Indiana each year.

The ACS Cancer Action Network had convinced lawmakers to approve $300,000 in funding for colorectal cancer screening programs for low-income Hoosiers, but the funding was removed from the final budget bill passed earlier this year. Indiana’s colorectal cancer screening rate of 65 percent is well below the ACS' 80 percent goal for a cancer that claims the lives of 1,100 Hoosiers each year.