From the national November 1998 tobacco settlement, Pennsylvania will receive $11.3 billion in funding over the next 25 years — an estimated $400 million annually. The settlement is the result of class action lawsuits filed by states’ attorneys general. They filed the suits on behalf of citizens whose tax dollars wind up paying for the high costs of healthcare for treating tobacco-related diseases. The tobacco settlement money is being used to fund tobacco use prevention and cessation.

The Pennsylvania legislature passed Act 77 to lay out how the tobacco settlement money would be spent. Act 77 directs the state Department of Health to establish a statewide, comprehensive tobacco use prevention and cessation program consistent with best practices outlined by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seventy percent of the money will go to “primary contractors” at the local level to develop, implement and monitor programs in all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Thirty percent of the tobacco money will go to programs administered at the state level.

Primary contractors in most counties are county or municipal departments of health, hospitals and others. Albert Einstein Healthcare Network has been subcontracted to deliver training on helping patients overcome tobacco addiction to healthcare professionals in Berks and Delaware.