No Tax For Hair Transplants – TanTax In, Botax Out

As the senate passed the landmark health care bill today, Botox maker Allergan and thousands of hair transplant and general cosmetic surgeons breathed a sigh of relief knowing that legislators have opted to replace the proposed “Botax” with a more palatable 10% tax on indoor tanning services.

While “vanity” seemed to be an easy target as lawmakers scrambled for cash for the nearly $1 trillion dollar plan to expand health care, they probably weren’t prepared for the fierce public opposition launched by pharmaceutical giant Allergan.

As Allergan rallied the troops, the company garnered the support of cosmetic surgeons and the vast majority of the medical community .

Legislators faced a tough call; were they willing to risk losing the critical support of physicians and the medical community at large? Apparently not. So when the American Academy of Dermatology suggested a Tan Tax, legislators saw this as a slam dunk. After all, this falls on the heels of reports that scientists have determined that tanning beds are much  more dangerous than previously suggested, categorizing the beds as a known carcinogenic to humans inline with tobacco, mustard gas, the hepatitis B virus and asbestos.