Alcohol abuse is the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., and it contributes to countless diseases, car crashes, injuries, and crimes.How can we solve these thorny problems? Making booze more expensive might be a good start, a new study suggests.

Doubling the current state taxes on alcohol -- which would tack on as much as 50 cents to the price of the average six-pack or bottle of wine -- could be expected to reduce alcohol-related deaths by 35 percent, fatal car crashes by 11 percent, and the rates of sexually transmitted disease by 6 percent, according to the study.Higher taxes on booze would also lead to 2 percent less violence and 1.4 percent less crime, the researchers estimate."What is surprising is the consistency of the effect across a broad range of health outcomes that kind of don't have anything to do with each other," says Alexander C. [Read the full article]

Editor's note: Kavita Patel is director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy institute in Washington. A board-certified physician, she was previously policy director for the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs in the Obama administration and the deputy staff director for the Senate HELP Committee, under the leadership of Sen. Edward Kennedy.Washington (CNN) -- When President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, it was clear he would face an uphill battle defending the law and communicating its benefits to the American public.In the months leading to passage, we heard cries of rationing, death panels and blatant mischaracterization of what is in the bill.Since passage, the cries have shifted from rationing to repeal. Efforts to repeal the law have been highlighted by the self-proclaimed "Young Guns" of the GOP -- House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, Rep. [Read the full article]