This week in the UAE the government launched a full assault on the fast-food industry (all American companies) and (rightfully so) blamed their menu and promotion of it for the population’s rate of diabetes. The diabetes toll here is second in the world only to Saudi Arabia, about 24 percent of the population.

POW! Take that on your fat chops, KFC, Hardee’s, Pizza Hut, and McDonald’s!  I had to smile. Sometimes it’s refreshing to live in a brand new country where the government’s primary concern ACTUALLY IS the population’s welfare, the corporate interests haven’t banned into interest groups to lobby the government for their profit interests, and there are no democratic branches of government to lobby, anyway!

But then, France and Germany are two democracies that do put the population’s health ahead of corporate interests, and government is on the side of the people. That the US government has been sitting on the side of corporate profit interests and not the population’s well-being, became more apparent this week.

Tax code favors paying for sickness, not staying well

Those of us championing wellness have said for years that this isn’t a health-care system the US has, but a sick-care system. Just how true and accurate that is becomes apparent as the new administration is determined to radically improve the health of the nation.

HEALTH is the operative word, not MEDICINE. And herein lays the crux of how the system has been set up. The current tax code treats expenses for medical care and treatment of disease favorably but has varied hurdles, blocks, and dis-incentives to employers supporting wellness among their employees.

The National Business Group on Health, which represents over 270 large employers providing health insurance to 55 million Americans, reports, “The current tax treatment of wellness, fitness, health promotion, nutrition, and weight management programs poses a disincentive for employees to participate in employer-sponsored wellness programs and an administrative barrier for employers to offer them.”

Currently employers can deduct as a business expense what they pay for employee wellness programs, but the IRS comes back and bites the butt of that employee using the gym by considering the benefit as taxable income. Only a doctor’s order to exercise, for example, submitted to the HR office like an excuse for being absent would allow the employee to use pre-tax dollars or have the wellness program excluded from his taxable income. This raises questions of privacy and puts a heavy administrative burden on the employer.

The position of the National Business Group is that extending favorable tax treatment for employer contributions for employee health and wellness programs would remove a major barrier to more widespread adoption of these programs by employers and greater participation by employees. The result would be a healthier America.

Congress considering tax credits for Wellness

One of President Obama’s eight principles for health legislation is that it must “invest in prevention and wellness.” The New York Times reported this past week, “Congress is seriously considering proposals to provide tax credits or other subsidies to employers who offer wellness programs that meet federal criteria.”

Okay—code yellow—caution. Who is going to set the “federal criteria”? To date, federal criteria have been the problem due to the lobbying influence of the profit-interests of the troika, Big Pharma, the AMA, and Insurance industry. (I choke to call it the “health insurance” industry but that’s been the misnomer.)

Put the USPS Task Force on it

Congress and the President’s office would be wise to put the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) front and center in developing the criteria. This task force isn’t a government office or program but the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in fields of preventive medicine and primary care. And the US is in sore need in both areas. They conduct “rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of a broad range of clinical preventive services.”

I first noticed the work of the USPS Task Force when they announced early in this decade that routine cardio tests—electrocardiograms, stress tests, etc.– were no more accurate or useful in measuring or predicting cardiovascular health than simple questions regarding lifestyle and family history. Having just done that battery of tests with no answers but suffering “tightness” in the chest that was quickly resolved with CoQ10, the work of the Task Force confirmed my independent thinking.

See http://www.womensmedicinebowl.com/articles/conditions_women_heart.php

The independent thinking of the USPS Task Force could go a long way in establishing federal criteria for wellness programs. Their work is testing evidence of effectiveness of medical tests and treatments, and it’s not tainted with commercial (read: profit-making) interests. Still, WMB’s mantra, is the only evidence that’s valid, is whether the treatment or remedy works for you. You are the only experiment that matters!

Salud!

Beverly A. Jensen, Ph.D.

President, www.WomensMedicineBowl.com