Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (1998)
Forty-six state attorneys general settled with the four largest U.S. tobacco companies for an estimated $206 billion over 25 years, plus restrictions on marketing to minors. The deal followed years of state lawsuits seeking to recover Medicaid costs from smoking-related illness.
States received annual payments; tobacco advertising on billboards and to youth was sharply curtailed.
Funds were often diverted to general budgets rather than smoking cessation, and tobacco companies remained profitable—lessons cited by negotiators pushing for the Knoa nonprofit structure.
Like the tobacco deal, the Purdue settlement converts mass-tort exposure into a multi-decade revenue stream for states, with familiar concerns about whether money reaches its intended public-health purpose.