The Workforce Health Improvement Program (WHIP) Act now has 31 House and 4 Senate cosponsors.
The latest Member of Congress to sign on is Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA).
If your U.S. Representative or Senators are on the above lists, be sure to thank them for sponsoring this important measure! If not, use the link below to urge them to sign on.
The WHIP Act would allow employers to deduct the cost of health club memberships for their employees and would ensure that this benefit would not be classified as additional income to employees.
Private health insurance spending on illnesses related to obesity has increased more than tenfold since 1987, according to the first research to quantify the trend.
The growth in obesity has fueled a dramatic increase in the amount spent treating diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol and other weight-related illnesses, says the study, published this week in Health Affairs, an online journal of health policy and research.
Overall, employers and privately insured families spent $36.5 billion on obesity-linked illnesses in 2002, up from an inflation-adjusted $3.6 billion in 1987. That's up from 2% of total health care spending on obesity in 1987 to 11.6% in 2002, the latest year for which data are available.
On average, treating an obese person cost $1,244 more in 2002 than treating a healthy-weight person did. In 1987, the gap was $272.
The Wichita City Council has dealt a blow to a plan to give more than $2 million in tax breaks to help Genesis Health Clubs expand, The Wichita Eagle reports.
A 3-3 council deadlock killed a proposal that would have extended the deadline on the incentive package into 2007. But the president of Genesis, Rodney Steven II, pictured here, vowed to try to beat the July 13, 2005 deadline to finalize the bond financing and tax- relief package the council initially approved for his business in July 2004.
The package the council approved then would give Genesis access to $11.8 million in industrial revenue bond financing and an estimated $2.04 million in property and sales tax breaks.
Steven said the letter of intent that the council approved last year made promises to his business that he thinks need to be kept.
Connecticut: H.B. 6519, which makes various changes to the state's consumer protection statute, has become law. Clubs may continue to offer contracts that contain an automatic renewal clause on a month to month basis as long as they notify the buyer of an increase or decrease in the price of the renewal in the contract or provide that information in writing, no less than one month prior to such a renewal.
New Jersey: IHRSA expects the Assembly to introduce its budget bill today. The Senate and governor are supporting the proposed tax on health club memberships.
