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Acknowledging The Good In the Bad
Rays of Hope In Washington State

April 12, 2019

Excise taxes, or sin taxes are bad ideas for many reasons. We never support them, no matter how "bad" the "sin" legislators seek to tax.

Sin taxes are meant not only to raise money — usually for some usually un-opposable cause — but to influence consumer behavior. They are designed to artificially increase what consumers pay, with the goal of reducing (legal) sales of the disfavored products.

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Lower Drug Prices Without Harming Innovation

April 11, 2019  •  Real Clear Health

The urgent need to lower drug prices s has become a rare consensus issue in Washington.

But how to achieve this goal is another story.

Now, Congress has an opportunity to make a smart fix to something it inadvertently broke.

Like medications themselves, policy initiatives can remedy real problems. But they always come with the risk of harmful unintended side effects. So policy-makers, like doctors, should always be weighing potential benefits and risks.

The use of generic drugs, copies of innovative pharmaceuticals, are a prime example. By introducing competition they can drive down the price patients and other payers shell out for medicines.

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Cuomo's Out of Control Craving for an Opioid Slush Fund

March 21, 2019  •  RealClear Policy

Sometimes a bad idea is a bad idea, no matter how you package it. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is trying again, after his $600 million opioid tax was slapped down in December by an Obama appointed federal judge.

Proponents of the earlier tax scheme pointed to a key provision which forbade manufacturers from passing along the cost to patients. This was an essential element of the plan  — who in their right mind would want to punish patients whose doctors legitimately prescribe opioids for acute pain?

Even supporters of sin-taxes recognize the folly of squeezing vulnerable patients to pay for an opioid crisis now fueled by the illegal fentanyl trade.

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Smokeless Tobacco Can Save Lives, But Only if Smokers Have All the Facts

February 1, 2019  •  Real Clear Policy

When products have the potential to save millions of lives, it's helpful if people are told about those benefits. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can do just that as it considers allowing manufacturers of non-combustible tobacco products to notify smokers that completely switching from cigarettes to smokeless tobacco products can save lives.

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A Patently Reasonable Approach to Addressing Pharmaceutical Prices

January 15, 2019  •  Morning Consult

We seem to be at an impasse when it comes to getting the prices of prescription drugs under control for patients while at the same time fostering innovation. This need not be the case.

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