Roughly $237 million sits in the District’s tobacco settlement fund, earning nearly $800,000 a month in interest and awaiting withdrawal for what health care advocates hope are the right causes. Unlike past years, when the tobacco settlement windfall was spent on everything but solving the District’s health crisis, D.C. leaders say these dollars will be divvied up among critical needs. Some $79 million will be used to salvage Greater Southeast Community Hospital, $10 million for smoking cessation, $20 million for cancer prevention and $10 million for chronic disease management.
“We blew it the last time,” said D.C. Council Member David Catania, chairman of the health committee. “We are trying to do our best about having informed choices on how to spend the money going forward.”
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which tracks states’ use of tobacco settlement dollars, has consistently ranked the District in the bottom 10 for its failure to invest even 1 percent of its settlement revenue on smoking prevention. Last year the city climbed from 51st to 42nd, and it may rise again thanks to its investment in an American Lung Association smoking cessation program.
“We would certainly not ask the Council not to spend money on [Greater Southeast], but we’d like them to also spend money on tobacco cessation,” said Peter Fisher, vice president for state issues with Tobacco-Free Kids.
In 2001, the city first converted annual payments from the cigarettes companies into $521 million in bonds, which were used to pay down the District’s debt — infuriating the health and anti-smoking communities.
The District returned to the market in 2006, converting another $248 million. This time, the council passed legislation outlining myriad health-related projects that may benefit from the fund, though Catania stressed the “vast majority of the funds have not been committed.”
Robert Malson, CEO of the D.C. Hospital Association and former member of a task force convened to study where D.C.’s health care dollars are most needed, said the District is on the right path.
“We agreed that the areas that needed to be focused on were the areas east of the river in Wards 7 and 8,” Malson said of the task force. “And we also agreed a substantial amount of that money ought to go into beefing up Greater Southeast. And we thought the tobacco settlement fund was the right place to go for that money.”
How the D.C. Council might spend the fund:
» up to $116 million for health care facilities
» up to $80 million for emergency care upgrades
» $20 million for cancer prevention
» $10 million for chronic disease management
» $10 million for smoking cessation
» $1.5 million for an ongoing study of the District’s health needs
» $1.5 million for new ambulances
