A workplace smoking ban in Indiana could save the state $74 million in healthcare costs over the next five years, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Cancer Society.
According to the American Cancer Society, the ban could also help more than 65,000 adults quit smoking and keep more than 27,000 Indiana kids from starting the habit, the Indianapolis Star reports.
But state legislators have failed to pass a comprehensive smoke-free workplace law. "Probably the biggest fight right now is going on in the states, and that's one of the reasons that this report is relevant," Christopher Hansen, president of the Cancer Action Network, told the Star.
Fifteen states, including Indiana, have no ban on workplace smoking.
Indiana could have been among the states with comprehensive workplace laws this year, but the American Cancer Society withdrew its support for a smoke-free workplace bill exempting for bars and casinos, Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, chair of the Senate Public Policy Committee, told the Star.
Only five percent of Indianans visit bars and casinos, so a bill exempting those two locales would cover about 95 percent of the state's residents, Alting added.
"We should have passed that bill as is, which would have been a struggle but I think we would have the votes," he continued. "That would have been a step in the right direction."
