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The medical costs of obesity are estimated at nearly $150 billion dollars a year here in the United States.  To put that in perspective, nearly one out of every ten dollars spent on medical care goes to treat health complications of obesity and secondary conditions.  (Source: CDC)

Small wonder that the government is looking for ways to motivate people to lose weight.  They're hoping that a tax incentive might help.  If you are losing weight to treat a medical condition (including obesity), you can deduct certain related costs, such as membership fees in Weight Watchers or nutrition counseling, from your taxable income. For more on the fine print, see this post on the TurboTax blog and this document from the IRS.

This deduction has been available since 2002; I wonder how many people have taken advantage of it.  Corporate America--also desperate to contain health costs--has discovered that when it comes to getting overweight employees to trim down, financial incentives work. Interestingly, the incentives don't have to be very generous to be effective and the cost savings can be huge.  The number of companies paying employees to lose weight is on the rise. 

It's too soon to tell whether people who lose weight for financial gain keep it off better than those who are not. But if losing weight is on your New Year's Resolution list, why not make it as rewarding as possible? Check to see if your employer offers any incentives for losing weight. And be sure to check with your tax preparer to see if you qualify for any deductions.  If you do your own taxes, tax preparation software such as TurboTax should automatically alert you to this potential deduction.

Have any of you benefited from employer-sponsored or tax incentives for weight loss? If not, do you think it would motivate you?

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