IRS provides incentive for weight loss

Shedding weight can seem virtually impossible to do, even for serious, health-conscious dieters. So overweight Americans need as many good reasons to do so as possible.

Yes, there are the health problems. Yes, there are the headaches of finding clothes that fit. And yes, there is the social stigma attached to carrying extra pounds, even though plump Americans now are in the majority.

But the Internal Revenue Service is offering an incentive that outweighs -- no pun intended -- all of those reasons combined: money.

The IRS has begun allowing taxpayers to claim weight-loss expenses as a medical deduction. As of 2000, weight-loss expenses could be deducted only if recommended by a doctor to treat a specific disease. Now obesity itself can be the primary medical issue according to the IRS.

The deduction is appropriate, considering the state of health in America. It is time to quit treating obesity as a deserved punishment for self-indulgence and start treating it like the deadly disease it is.

The IRS decision is a good step.

But it is only a step. The long march to fitness and good health will require a major shift in how Americans eat and exercise. It will also require more emphasis on education that points out the benefits of good health and the costs -- both personal and financial -- of being overweight.

It will be interesting to see what effect the new IRS deduction will have.