Underscoring the enormous strain that obesity places on our nation’s healthcare system and economy at-large, the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) called on Congress to make important tax changes to encourage employees to participate in employer-sponsored health and wellness programs.

NBGH also released new data from Dr. Kenneth Thorpe documenting the costs associated with obesity.

"While employers have made great strides in emphasizing prevention, health, and wellness, far too many American workers are still obese and placing great strains on the system," said Helen Darling,NBGH president. "Obesity and related complications add hundreds of billions of dollars to our nation’s health tab annually and are pushing our health system – and with it, our economy – to the brink. We urge policymakers to take swift action to make common-sense tax code changes that help encourage workers to take greater advantage of workplace health and wellness programs and develop other programs and policies that will accelerate the reduction in obesity, especially among our vulnerable children."

In the past twenty-five years, adult obesity in the United States has doubled and childhood obesity has tripled. In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that more than one-third of adults in the United States, over 72 million people, were obese.

A new study released by NBGH, "Weighty Matters: How Obesity Drives Poor Health and Health Spending," conducted by Kenneth Thorpe, Ph.D., Robert W. Woodruff professor and chair, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University and executive director, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, provides new evidence of the role obesity plays in rising healthcare costs and rates of chronic disease.

Key findings from the study include:

a. The prevalence of 11 chronic conditions associated with overweight and obesity grew 180 percent from 1997 to 2005;

b. Average per capita health spending increased by 40 percent from 1997 to 2005, but the average for the 15 costliest conditions – all associated in some way with obesity – jumped 55 percent;

c. Overall, obesity accounts for 27 percent of the increase in inflation-adjusted health expenditures among working-age adults; and

d. If the prevalence of obesity were the same today as in 1987, healthcare spending in the United States would be about $200 billion less each year.

"These data are fresh evidence of how much obesity contributes to rising healthcare costs and the crushing burden of chronic disease," said Thorpe. "If policymakers are serious about bending the cost curve, the first place to start is with reducing the incidence of obesity and related complications that drive hundreds of billions of dollars annually in avoidable healthcare costs."

NBGH Urges Tax Policy Changes to Encourage Health & Wellness

NBGH said it believes that changes in tax policy are urgently needed to maximize employer adoption and increase employee participation in worksite health and wellness programs. Currently, the tax code treats expenses for medical care and treatment of disease favorably, but not activities and programs designed to prevent disease and maintain health.

This treatment of wellness, fitness, health promotion and weight management programs for employees poses a barrier and disincentive to more comprehensive employer-sponsored wellness programs. The NBGH said it is calling on Congress and the Administration to act on the following proposed changes:

a. Employer contributions toward employee expenses for health and wellness activities, programs and purchases should be excludable from employees’ incomes for tax purposes;

b. Employees should be able to use pre-tax dollars (including through Section 125 cafeteria plans, HSAs and FSAs) to pay for their share of health and wellness activities, programs and purchases including for fitness, nutrition, exercise and weight-management programs; and

c. People should be allowed to deduct post-tax out-of-pocket expenses for health and wellness activities, programs and purchases from their taxes in the same way that they can for medical expenses if their total healthcare and wellness expenses exceed the 7.5 percent adjusted gross income threshold.

Address: National Business Group on Health, 50 F St. NW, Suite 600, Washington DC 20001; (202) 628-9320, www.businessgrouphealth.org.

June 11, 2009

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June 11, 2009

Legislation which aims to fight the growing prevalence of chronic disease and improve the quality of life for the 135 million full- and part-time workers in the United States was reintroduced in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

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May 28, 2009

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May 14, 2009

Over 50 percent of wellness executives do not believe an adequate job is being done to educate senior management and employees on the value of wellness programs.

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April 30, 2009

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April 14, 2009

Sixty-five percent of workers say that their loyalty to employers would be improved or significantly improved by having a wellness program available to them, according to a poll by LifeCare Inc.

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April 2, 2009

The rising cost of chronic diseases, including direct medical costs and indirect costs associated with lost productivity, is a growing burden for businesses, according to research prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers in conjunction with the World Economic Forum.

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March 19, 2009

As an added service, your editors have created a Workplace Wellness Management on LinkedIn. If you are a LinkedIn member now, click here to join our group.

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March 3, 2009

As wellness programs grow in popularity, employees overwhelmingly see value in these healthy activities, but don’t stay committed to them, according to a  survey from the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian).

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February 19, 2009

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February 5, 2009

Health management programs should be designed to retain employees, according to EmployeeWellnessUSA.com.

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January 22, 2009

Corporate wellness programs are best supported by individualized health coaching to drive lasting behavior change among employees, according to a white paper by Hummingbird Coaching Services.

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January 8, 2009

Americans may need a reality-check when it comes to their health. Though most Americans consider themselves to be in good health, according to Health and Wellbeing in America, a survey sponsored by CIGNA HealthCare and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports differently.

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December 18, 2008

As reports and news about the extent of the recession in the United States continue, a new poll from the American Psychological Association (APA) finds that more than eight out of 10 anticipate a stressful holiday season and that the economic crisis is impacting women and families most.

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December 4, 2008

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November 20, 2008

Some 45 percent of 211 companies polled offered discounts or corporate memberships to health clubs for their employees, compared to 22 percent who provided exercise facilities on company grounds, according to a survey conducted by the American Management Association.

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November 6, 2008

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October 23, 2008

Health prevention in the workplace is a growing trend among multi-national employers, due to the fact that 2 percent of capital spent on the workforce is lost to disability, absenteeism and presenteeism because of chronic disease, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Health Research Institute’s report on chronic disease.

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October 9, 2008

An estimated 40 percent of employees in the U.S. experience fatigue, a problem that carries billions of dollars in costs from lost productivity, according to a study by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

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September 25, 2008

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August 7, 2008

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July 24, 2008

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June 19, 2008

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May 29, 2008

Designing personalized program goals for participants, follow-up sessions, success in attracting the non-fit, paying close attention to program evaluations and identifying desired outcomes are all among the secrets to success of the British Petroleum’s (BP) on-site wellness center in Houston.

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May 1, 2008

Twenty-seven percent of all tobacco enrollees have remained abstinent after 12 months – the highest quit rates in the industry – through innovative patient-coach relationships at Leade Health.

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March 27, 2008

Wellness Program Management Advisor asked Patti Clavier, R.N., who leads Intel Corporation’s Global Health and Well-being (HW-B) Operations, to share the evolution of Intel’s HW-B program and management’s role in this process. Since its inception over 10 years ago, this grassroots program has offered a variety of health, safety and wellness programs. Clavier takes pride in the role she and Intel’s network of occupational health nurses played in the development of this program.

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February 14, 2008

When the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), started The Heart Truth movement in 2002, 1 in 3 women died of heart disease, according to Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, director of the NHLBI.

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January 24, 2008

New research has produced strong evidence of how work stress is linked to the biological mechanisms involved in the onset of heart disease.

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January 10, 2008

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