Free Republic

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A coalition of health organizations wants to increase the tax on a pack of cigarettes by 300 percent in California to boost funding for hospital emergency care, nursing education, cancer research and a variety of other health programs. The per-pack tax would jump by $2.60 under an initiative the coalition hopes to have on the November 2006 ballot, supporters said Tuesday. If voters approve the proposal, California's total tax on a pack of cigarettes would rise to $3.47, the highest in the nation. The initiative combines two competing tobacco tax measures that had been in circulation. One...

Strayhorn blasts Perry over new rules governing CHIP coverage AUSTIN (AP) — Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn on Wednesday urged Gov. Rick Perry, a fellow Republican, to rescind new rules for the Children's Health Insurance Program that she says will jeopardize health care for poor working families. The rules, which went into effect Tuesday, specify dollar amounts and types of assets that must be counted by certain families applying for the low-cost health insurance program. For instance, having $5,000 in a savings account could disqualify a family's children from coverage, she said. That assets test is "mean-spirited, " Strayhorn said,...