December 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 20

ADVOCACY

The PHIT Act is an Investment in Health
A new federal legislation opportunity would provide tax incentives for fitness
By Sage Learn

D

iabetes, hypertension and heart disease. We hear these words on an
ever-increasing basis, and they are just a few of the consequences of
obesity. The statistics are staggering - more than one-third of U.S.
adults (35.7 percent) are obese, and more than two-thirds (69.2 percent) are
overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control. We must ask that at a
time when healthcare costs are skyrocketing and we are in middle of an obesity
epidemic, how can we make a real impact?
U.S. Representative Ron Kind (DWI) has introduced legislation to offer
a fiscal incentive to ease the financial
burden of engaging in healthy behavior, encouraging Americans to make a
choice to be more active, and park and
recreation agencies are critical to the
solution. Rep. Kind introduced the Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT)
Act of 2013 (H.R. 956), which would
amend the Internal Revenue Service's
medical care tax deduction to include
qualified sports and fitness expenses.

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Parks & Recreation

The bill defines " qualified sports and
fitness expenses " as amounts paid for
fitness facility memberships, physical
exercise programs and exercise equipment. If it passes, Americans would
be able to use up to $1,000 each year
($2,000 for married couples filing jointly or heads of households) in pretax
dollars for preventative physical activity fees. Included inside this definition
would be expenditures such as membership at a recreation or fitness facility; youth and adult sports league fees;

| D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

exercise classes and personal trainers;
youth camps; organized running event
registration fees; and class fees for martial arts, gymnastics and other physical
activities. Obviously, these types of activities get people physically active, and
the hope is that by incentivizing people to engage in these types of activities, we will see a steady decline in our
country's obesity rates.
Currently, pretax medical expenditure accounts known as Flexible
Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Health
Savings Accounts (HSAs) focus more
on reimbursement of medical expenses
when you are already sick or injured,
such as prescriptions or medical insurance deductibles, rather than preventative care. If the PHIT Act passes, these
accounts would be eligible for use inside the qualified physical activity defi-



December 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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