Obamacare is one of CVS’ best chances to grow its business and smokers are the opposite of that business opportunity
Does this seem like odd timing? Decades after tobacco lawsuits, settlements and other conflicts swept the country, one major retailer, CVS, has said it will no longer sell any tobacco products in its 7,600 stores. The move will cost CVS somewhere in the neighborhood of $2bn, which normally would be the kind of loss that would panic executives and worry anyone holding CVS stock.
It turns out that the timing however, is perfect. CVS doesn’t need tobacco for its revenues because a bigger source of business is on the horizon: Obamacare. And Obamacare is invested in pressuring smokers to quit by forcing them to pay more for healthcare.
Obamacare is one of CVS’s best chances to grow its business, according to Wall Street analysts. Tobacco – and smokers – are directly the opposite of that business opportunity. Obamacare doesn’t like smokers; it is set up so that smokers may pay healthcare premiums as much as 50% higher than people who don’t smoke.
Originally written By Heidi Moore
