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Medicare Smoking Settlements
& Related Newswire
6/20/2006 9:33:00 AM | Tobacco settlement violates Constitution, federal suit claims 
=(0) The latest skirmish in the States vs Big Tobacco wars involves a lawsuit claiming that the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, signed by 46 states, violates the US Constitution. Filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute on behalf of a smoker and various interests of retail tobacco, the suit alleges that the fact that states agree on somethin...
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6/19/2006 2:22:00 PM | Health heavyweights urge Ontario to sue tobacco companies =(0) Inspired by lawsuits in some American states and the Province of British Columbia, a coalition of health officials is urging Ontario to sue cigarette companies to recover health care costs for smoking-related illnesses. A letter with over 100 signatures, organized by the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, accuses the tobacco industry of fraud, i...
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6/14/2006 6:06:00 PM | Tobacco companies ask judge to dismiss Medicare lawsuit =(0) Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. are among six tobacco companies named as defendants in a lawsuit by United Seniors Association Inc. which seeks to have the companies reimburse Medicare for its disbursements for smoking-related illnesses since 1999. United Seniors is a lobbying group which is attempting to pursue the lawsuit on ...
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4/23/2006 12:13:00 AM | Tennessee receives annual payment in tobacco settlement =(0) Philip Morris has completed its tobacco settlement payments to individual States for this year. Some other companies including RJ Reynolds and Lorillard Tobacco, are trying to have the payments reduced because of lower sales, but some states are suing for their full payments. The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was signed in 1998........
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3/29/2006 1:21:00 AM | Decision on tobacco funds clouds budget =(0) Rhode Island is among the states whose budgets may be affected by fallout from the 1998 settlement between 46 states and the major US tobacco companies. The companies may be allowed to withhold about one-fifth of the health care payments they are scheduled to remit to the states in April because of falling market share compared to companies who are...
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3/28/2006 8:34:00 PM | Fitch Comments on Independent Tobacco Arbiter Ruling =(0) Ratings on US Tobacco Settlement bonds could be affected by the arbitrator's ruling allowing the tobacco companies in question to cut this year's payment to the states that signed the agreement. Payment is due on April 17..........
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3/28/2006 1:12:00 PM | Tobacco groups win ruling over $6.5bn settlement =(0) An arbitrator's ruling went in favour of major tobacco companies, allowing them to cut over $1 billion from the $6.5 billion due to 46 states in April. The ruling is based on the decline in cigarette sales overall, and over and above that, the decline in market share of these major companies compared to small companies that are not part of the 1998...
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3/27/2006 3:43:00 PM | Tobacco Settlement Funds Diverted =(0) The Missouri State auditor has found that much of the money the state collected from tobacco companies from the 1998 tobacco settlement has not gone to health care or smoking prevention programs as intended. The money has instead gone into the General Fund and moreover that fees were charged to the fund to make these inappropriate transfers..........
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