FRANKFORT, Ky. — Indiana’s health commissioner told Kentucky lawmakers yesterday that they should strongly consider increasing the state cigarette tax — as her state did last year.

Dr. Judith Monroe said higher taxation is the most effective way to discourage smoking, especially among youths, and reduce health costs associated with cigarettes.

“As the price goes up, youth smoking goes down,” said Monroe, testifying before the joint House-Senate Health and Welfare Committee.

Prodded by Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, Indiana’s legislature raised the cigarette tax from 55.5 cents a pack to 99.5 cents, with the proceeds directed to health care, including a Medicaid stop-smoking program.

Indiana, which ranks sixth among states in adult smoking, used the money to boost its Medicaid spending on smoking-cessation programs to $17.5 million a year, from about $10 million, Monroe said.

Kentucky, which leads the nation in adult smoking, taxes cigarettes at 30 cents a pack, one of the lowest rates in the nation.

The state spends only about $3.8 million a year on stop-smoking programs. Its Medicaid program doesn’t cover smoking cessation, except counseling for pregnant women.

People on Medicaid, the state-federal health plan for the poor and disabled, smoke at a higher rate than the general population, according to the American Lung Association.

Indiana’s Medicaid program covers items such as nicotine patches and some prescription drugs that help people stop smoking.

Kentucky’s program covers none of those — except for Passport Health Plan, a Medicaid managed-care program that serves the Jefferson County region and last year launched its own smoking-cessation project without additional state funding.

Dr. William Hacker, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, said the state would like to do more, but his agency doesn’t have the money.

“Obviously, Indiana has a lot more resources,” he said.

Advocates and some Kentucky lawmakers yesterday said Monroe’s comments underscore the need for their state to raise its cigarette tax.

“I think this highlights what we should be doing here in Kentucky,” said Rep. David Watkins, a Henderson Democrat and a family physician who supports an increase of at least 70 cents.

The Democrat-controlled House approved a 25-cent increase in this year’s legislative session, but the Republican-controlled Senate rejected it. Senate President David Williams has said he is “not inclined” to raise taxes.

Watkins said he hopes Williams reconsiders.

“He should use his power to move the state forward — not just block us,” Watkins said.

Williams didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Monroe appeared before the committee yesterday at the invitation of Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, and Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville, who lead the panel and have said they favor a cigarette-tax increase.

Monroe, a Kentucky native whose grandfather raised tobacco, said in an interview that she understands lawmakers’ reluctance to raise taxes, but she said the cigarette tax was popular in Indiana and supported by Gov. Daniels’ Republican administration.

Hoosiers were told that every pack of cigarettes sold in the state costs Indiana $7.50 in increased health-care costs, including millions of dollars in Medicaid expenses, she said.

Advocates estimate that the cost to Kentucky — which has the nation’s highest rate of lung-cancer deaths and some of the highest rates of heart disease, stroke, premature births and other smoking-associated ailments — is about $1,700 per year per smoker. Smoking costs the state’s Medicaid program $500 million a year, they said.

“Quite frankly, every state needs to take a hard look at what the price of a pack of cigarettes is,” Monroe said, adding that states should view higher cigarette taxes as a health care-initiative.

Advocates say Kentucky could use the money generated by a higher cigarette tax to pay for nicotine patches and new drugs that help people stop smoking — as Passport does now.

Passport launched a pilot project last year for 200 smokers and added another 800 this year. Among them is Ronald Ridley, 58, of Louisville, who said that after smoking for 44 years, he didn’t know if he could quit.

“I really think it is a wonderful program,” he said. “There should be more opportunities for others to have the option to quit.”

Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228.