CVS Stops Selling All Tobacco Products...partly thanks to the ACA

Another ancillary benefit of the Affordable Care Act: It's helping influence healthy changes in industries not directly impacted by the law:

As of midnight on Tuesday, all 7,700 CVS locations nationwide will no longer sell tobacco products, fulfilling a pledge the company made in February, as it seeks to reposition itself as a health care destination.

The rebranding even comes with a new name: CVS Health.

The decision to stop selling cigarettes is a strategic move as pharmacies across the country jockey for a piece of the growing health care industry. Rebranding itself as a company focused on health could prove lucrative for the drugstore as it seeks to appeal to medical partners that can help it bridge the gap between customers and their doctors.

...As the medical industry braces for the flood of new patients with insurance through the Affordable Care Act, drugstores see an opportunity to provide basic care to consumers who may not want to wait to see a doctor, if one is available in their area at all. And major chains like Walmart, the country’s largest retailer, can offer such services for prices that may appeal to patients on the fringes of the health care system.

I'm sure the tobacco industry is up in arms, and no doubt smoker libertarians will hoot & hollar about "OBUMMERCARE STEALING FREEDUMS TO GET LUNG CANCER IF WE WANT!!" and all that, but I'm not exactly gonna wring my hands over this move. It sounds an awful lot like more of that Invisible Hand of the Free Market stuff that conservatives always yammer on about loving so much to me.