BOSTON – A new alliance of doctors and public health advocates called Tuesday for a 50-cents-per-pack increase in the excise tax on cigarettes in New England – with the extra money going to pay for increased health care.

The Alliance for a Healthy New England – whose members include the medical societies in all six New England states, the New England division of the American Cancer Society, health care providers and community activists – said higher cigarette prices will cut down on tobacco use, particularly among teen-agers.

“We are breaking new ground in efforts to combat the most preventable cause of illness and death,” said Bob Mehrman, a former radio personality who lost his larynx to cancer 11 years ago and is now an anti-smoking activist. He speaks with the aid of an electronic voice box.

In New England, excise taxes now range from 44 cents per pack in Vermont to 76 cents per pack in Massachusetts.

The revenue from the proposed tax increase would provide insurance coverage for 300,000 of the estimated 1.1 million New Englanders without health insurance, the group said.

It also released a University of New Hampshire survey suggesting a majority of New England residents would support the 50-cents-per-pack increase, if the money was used for improving health care.

Proponents said approximately 21,000 New England residents – 61 per day – die from smoking-related health problems.

Judith B. Stephpany, of the American Cancer Society’s New England division board of directors, said smoking costs New England $4.7 billion in health care and related costs.

Dr. Robert McAfee of Portland, Maine, of the New England Council of Medical Societies, said efforts to reduce smoking as well as provide greater access to health care present a great opportunity to solve two major public health problems at once.

“If 10 people were killed by dioxin, we’d shut the paper mills down tomorrow. If red tide caused paralysis in one person, the entire shellfishing industry would be closed,” McAfee said. “Yet 21,000 of our neighbors and family and friends are going to die from the most preventable cause of death in New England.”

A spokesman for one of the nation’s largest tobacco companies criticized the group’s plan.

“In a period of unprecedented budget surpluses, it is irresponsible to propose higher excise taxes as a solution to the problem,” said Tom Ryan, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA. “Cigarettes are already among the highest-taxed products and an increase will impact those least able to afford them.”

McAfee, the former president of the American Medical Association, predicted the financial stress that smoking-related illnesses pose for the health care industry and state governments would help the measure pass in the region’s legislatures.