COLUMBIA -- A coalition of medical, insurance and business leaders today will propose a starting point for extending health care coverage to the 700,000 South Carolinians without it. Their plan centers on raising the state’s 7-cent cigarette tax to 90 cents per pack — nearly triple the proposed increase now before lawmakers — to provide medical insurance for 160,000 persons. It is the first proposal with specific recommendations on how money gained by taxing smokers more should pay for health care instead of to provide income-tax cuts.

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