According to the Bangor Daily News, Maine Sen. John Martin plans to propose legislation that would offer incentives for state Medicaid beneficiaries to quit smoking cigarettes and possibly impose penalties on those who do not.

The Maine Medicaid program, called Mainecare, provides health insurance for about 262,000 residents. According to Martin, the state already offers Mainecare beneficiaries smoking cessation programs at no cost but more needs to be done to encourage smokers to quit. Martin suggests that the state “could put a sliding fee on those who (continue to smoke) so that they will have to pay a portion of the bill when they go see a medical professional.” He added that another option might be waiving co-payments for some Mainecare beneficiaries who are nonsmokers.

According to Ed Miller, CEO of the American Lung Association of Maine, low-income Maine residents are more likely to smoke than other residents. The local people’s rights organization, Maine Equal Justice Partners, said Martin’s proposal would make it more difficult for low-income state residents to access health care services. The Maine Civil Liberties Union’s Executive Director said a proposal to punish smokers amounts to “lifestyle discrimination” by the state and would turn Mainecare workers into the “smoking police.”

Punishing safety net healthcare recipients who smoke is a fascinating exercise in twisting a compassionate social service into a bureaucratic blackjack. Perhaps the best way to bring perspective to this proposal is to confine the right to vote on it to legislators who are smokers, current and former. In either case, the party casting a vote will know what it takes to stop – because virtually everyone who does smoke these days is someone who simply can’t quit.