Lowman S. Henry
Chairman

Robert W. Keibler
Vice Chairman

Jane R. Gordon
Secretary/Treasurer

Board Members

Jerry Bowyer
Allegheny Institute

James Canova
Canova Electric

LeGree S. Daniels
U.S. Postal Governor

Joseph Geiger
PA Assoc. of Non
Profit Organizations

Hilary Holste
PPG Industries

Charles L. Huston, III
Huston Foundation

Doris O'Donnell
Allegheny Foundation

Albert Paschall
King of Prussia
Chamber of Commerce

James Trammell
Sun Company, Inc.

__________

Survey Consultant
Albert E. Sindlinger
Sindlinger & Company

Focus Group Moderator
Charles L. Kennedy
Penn State University
__________

FOR RELEASE
MONDAY  January 22,  2001
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CONTACT: LOWMAN HENRY

LHENRY@LINCOLNINSTITUTE.ORG

Tobacco Settlement:
PA Non-Profits Want Funds Used for
Health and Senior Care

     Harrisburg (PA) – The consensus among non-profit charitable organizations throughout Pennsylvania is that funds from the national tobacco settlement should largely be used for providing health insurance for the uninsured, and for establishing new programs for the elderly.
     Non-profit leaders who participated in the Lincoln Institute’s recent Charitable Organizations Survey rejected suggestions that tobacco settlement money be used, at least in part, to give taxpayers’ relief by lowering the state’s income tax, or by helping to pay public education costs.
     Efforts by the Ridge Administration to pass its Pennsylvania Health Investment Plan, a blueprint for spending tobacco settlement funds, failed to pass the legislature before it adjourned last November.  Thus, who will benefit from the windfall remains a hotly debated topic.
     Lowman S. Henry, Chairman of the Lincoln Institute, said:  “Establishment of a new program to provide health insurance to the uninsured received substantial support from Pennsylvania’s non-profit executives.  Eighty-one percent supported using tobacco settlement money for such a program, 12% were opposed, and 7% offered no opinion.”
     Identical percentages also supported the use of tobacco settlement funds for the establishment of new programs to help older Pennsylvanians be cared for in their homes and communities, rather than in nursing homes.
     Spending part of the tobacco settlement money on tobacco prevention and cessation program also garnered significant support, 57% favor spending some of the funds on such programs, while 22% are opposed.  Broad-based health research, and investment in health care venture capital also received plurality support among the non-profit leaders surveyed.  Forty-two percent agree that some of the funds should be used for such research, while 33% voiced opposition, and 25% offered no opinion.
     Forty-eight percent felt some of the tobacco settlement money should be given to hospitals to help defray the cost of uncompensated care.  Thirty-seven percent opposed giving hospitals part of the money, while 15% had no opinion.

     Another popular option was to use some of the money to establish an endowment fund to help fund the state’s future health care needs.  Fifty-eight percent favored such a use of the tobacco money, while 19% were in opposition, and 23% provided no opinion.
     All of those options are contained within the Ridge Administration’s Pennsylvania Health Investment Plan.  A solid 60% felt revenue from Pennsylvania’s share of the national tobacco settlement should be primarily expended on health care needs, while 10% felt it should be spent on a wider range of programs.  Another 24% thought both health care and other programs should share in the bounty.
     Non-profit leaders responding to the Lincoln Institute’s 2000 Charitable Organizations Survey were not willing to share tobacco revenue with the state’s schools.  Fifty-eight percent opposed giving some of the money to help fund elementary and secondary schools.  Only 33% supported that option, 9% had no opinion.  There wasn’t much support for sharing the good financial fortune with taxpayers.  Seventy-seven percent said they opposed giving a portion to taxpayers in the form of a cut in the state’s personal income tax rate.  Only 16% felt the taxpayers should benefit from the funding settlement.
     The Lincoln Institute’s 2000 Charitable Organization’s Survey, conducted in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit Organizations, was mailed to 4,000 non-profit charitable organizations in Pennsylvania on November 30, 2000.  As of the response deadline of December 22, 2000, a total of 293 survey questionnaires were returned for tabulation.  Complete results of the 2000 Charitable Organization’s Survey can be obtained on-line at www.lincolninstitute.org.

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