Alaska Dental Society News & Updates

1/8

Seattle's new soda tax prices making some shoppers' eyes 'pop'
The City of Seattle's new soda tax is causing sticker shock for some shoppers. Many stores have signs posted showing you exactly how much you now have to pay.

A regular can of soda is now an extra 21 cents; a 20 ounce bottle costs an extra 35 cents. If you're buying a whole case, it's going to cost you an extra $7 or so.

“I thought about buying the Coke, but it's $10 more,” said Costco shopper Dennis Peterson.
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12/21

Surge in opioid overdoses cuts life expectancy for the second year in a row

Last year, 63,600 people died from drug overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The age-adjusted overdose death rate rose 21 percent, to 19.8 per 100,000 in 2016 from 16.3 per 100,000 in 2015.
The data suggests the epidemic, which has already ravaged countless communities, is becoming even deadlier. Reports have chronicled how potent synthetics such as fentanyl are becoming more common — and more dangerous.
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12/19

Sponsors pull the plug on health care initiatives

The groups behind a pair of voter initiatives to put some popular elements of the Affordable Care Act into state law have suspended their efforts, The Midnight Sun has learned.

The groups, Healthcare for Alaska and Defend Alaska’s Care, had been cleared to begin the process of gathering the more than 32,000 signatures needed to get the initiatives on the 2018 ballot, but political uncertainty made the group rethink its efforts.
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12/6

Shares of dental suppliers drop on potential new threat from Amazon