Are several converging consumer trends finally putting enough pressure towards getting a public health tax policy approved that’s more than a decade in the making? Public health? Taxes? I know what you’re thinking, but I assure you that how these topics relate to the supplement industry is quite important. It revolves around reclassifying certain meal replacement products and dietary supplements, that do have FDA approved health claims, to be permissible medical care expenditures for reimbursement within tax-favored Health Savings Accounts (known as HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (known as FSAs). This is the heart of an argument that goes back more than a decade when a coalition that included the American Herbal Products Association, Herbalife International, GNC, Council for Responsible Nutrition, and several other large companies and trade organizations began working with a bi-partisan group of lawmakers to introduce legislation promoting tax parity for certain meal replacement products and dietary supplements under HSAs and FSAs. To give some additional insider color to this topic, I had a recorded discussion (included in content) with my good friend John Venardos, the former VP of worldwide regulatory & government affairs for Herbalife International, that was a major player in that coalition at the time. Fact is, it shouldn’t have been difficult historically to understand why establishing tax deductibility for certain products that promote a healthy lifestyle, weight loss or disease prevention, is an important public health policy initiative, but consider how the importance has been supercharged because of the “COVID-19 Effect.” While this is a tax question wrapped around a public health matter, I wish the legislative branch of the government would zoom out and just try to focus on asking the hard questions around root causes that are related to obesity. We are in desperate need of a comprehensive strategy to encourage healthy nutrition and to fight obesity. An extremely high percentage of all deaths in the United States are related to poor diet and physical inactivity. These are about incentivizing the right daily choices. Maybe that starts with tax deductibility for certain products that promote a healthy lifestyle, weight loss or disease prevention or maybe it doesn’t but we need to start thinking about improving nutrition and physical activity of the mainstream population.
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