SC gets more than $84 million from annual payment from tobacco settlement fund
Since 1998, South Carolina has been receiving an annual sum from the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. This year, the state got $84.3 million, according to Attorney General Alan Wilson.
The Master Settlement Agreement Payment goes to 45 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories each year. It started when these states settled with four major cigarette manufacturers.
The settlement was the start of major restrictions imposed on the cigarette manufacturers that targeted the industry’s advertising and marketing. The payments are to help reimburse the states for health care costs and harm caused by tobacco use.
South Carolina’s payment primarily goes to the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services for the Medicaid program, according to a press release from Wilson’s office.
To date, South Carolina has received $1,748,565,581.88 from the tobacco payments.
