Columbus, Nebraska

The East-Central District Health Department stands strongly behind its motto, "Healthy Moms Make Healthy Babies."

...the department began in 2003 offering a program to pregnant mothers who smoke, but little interest in the sessions is forcing those at the department to consider scrapping the program.

The department received a $38,000 grant from the state...

However, if attendance numbers for the sessions remain low, the department will be forced to drop the program in December when the grant expires.

Rayman said one of the reasons the program has little interest is because many people do not know it is offered.

(Uh huh. Sure. I haven't been through Nebraska since 1978 and I've heard of it.)

"One reason the program is so important is it is only $38,000," Rayman said. "That's not a whole lot of money. If you have a child that is in a natal intensive care unit, one child can consume anywhere between $100,000 and $200,000 in medical bills. Mothers that smoke are likely to have a premature baby and premature babies consume a lot of care. So if we can prevent one mom from having a premature baby then we've paid for our program."

(Uh huh, Sure. Mothers who smoke are likely to have premature babies. Even if this were true it doesn't mean the natal intensive care unit for them. And of course, somebody has to attend the classes or it's money down the drain)

"I think what we did is we sold our future because if we don't have a tobacco prevention program that is strong in the community, then kids are going to start smoking, and then in 30 years we are going to pay for that."

(You would think smoking had just been invented the way these people talk. How have we been able to afford all the smokers from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s if 30 years down the road we had to pay for them?)
http://www.columbustelegram.com/articles/2003/06/05/news/news5.txt

I was a premature baby (I'm a twin, so that's not unusual.) My brother and I spent a grand total of zero minutes in a natal intensive care unit, costing society absolutely nothing.

We grew up to be perfectly healthy and reasonably normal (by most accounts, I'm more normal than my brother.) My parents got by without someone telling them they had to spend $100,000 before they could take us home from the hospital.