Cigarette Tax Going Up

There's a push to decrease the number of Lung Cancer deaths. Starting April 1st smokers will have to pay more for their nicotine craving. The federal cigarette tax will increase by 62 cents. That means tax on a pack of cigarettes will jump from 39cents to a $1.01. The average cost will increase to $5 a pack. A Savannah woman just lost half of her right lung. She hopes her story will encourage people say no to cigarettes! 44-year-old Monica McMasters just had lung surgery. "They took half of my right lung. I'm doing really well. It's been two weeks. I'm still healing, but the cancer is they think gone,” says Monica. Monica says she smoked on and off for 20 years. "We caught it really really early. It was a very small little nodule so I'm probably, I'm blessed so I'm going to be okay." This breathing machine measures her lung capacity. It determines how strong Monica's lungs are. She knows she's one of the lucky ones. "It was scary. It's one of the scariest things I've ever had to deal with, and I feel really like I am the luckiest person on the planet." Doctor Gifford Lorenz specializes in lung disease and is watching over Monica's treatment. "Monica's doing great. She's got a little cough and sensitive chest congestion, shortness of breath. We just need to make sure that it's the usual customary thing for her," says Dr. Lorenz. After losing a friend to Lung Cancer last year and dealing with her own battle, Monica wants people to think twice before taking that first puff. "I think they're so addictive. I don't know that I was ever addicted, but I think that they are so addictive that it's a game of Russian Roulette," says Monica. The bottom line...think healthy... take care of yourself, because smoking cigarettes can kill you.

In February President Barack Obama signed into law the 62 cent federal cigarette tax increase.
The tobacco tax is supposed to pay for expansion of health insurance for children.