Deductions, Obamacare

That’s Deductible

December 5, 2013 - Deductions, Obamacare

Years ago the expense of weight loss programs and stop-smoking programs were not deductible. The negative effects of smoking and being overweight were not seen as illnesses but as bad habits. Then someone in Congress realized these former bad habits lead to real health problems. Somebody must have convinced a lawmaker that we could have more productivity if people stopped smoking and made better dietary choices. Who knows. But that kind of influence is what gets laws changed and the tax laws are what we have to follow when we file our tax returns. We can deduct medical expenses after we become sick. We can deduct the cost of repairing the damage. But preventive care is not deductible. We cannot deduct the cost of our gym membership or workout equipment. The tax laws were changed to allow us to deduct expenses for programs to help end the smoking habit. When obesity became thought of as an illness, we could then deduct the cost of programs to help combat that epidemic. I promised a few weeks ago that I would tell you how I quit smoking. One of my clients said, “You smoked?!” It was many, many years ago that I did smoke. This article is more about habits than taxes, but if it can help you quit, then I will save you a lot of money, you might live longer and get to pay taxes longer. How can the IRS argue with that? Smoking was considered “cool” when I was growing up. Famous movie stars were seen holding cigarettes and blowing smoke rings. I was a teenager and I wanted to be cool like that. I can remember how awful it tasted and how awful it felt to force that stinky smoke into my lungs. I learned how to ignore the negative aspects. My hands smelled bad and an occasional spark would burn a hole in my clothing or the furniture. So I grew up smoking and then smoking became less popular. People were complaining because non-smokers didn’t want to breathe second-hand smoke.  Magazines were now carrying articles and photographs about the horrors of cancers from smoking.  Now it was becoming more important to me NOT to smoke. I didn’t want to disfigure my face from cancer of the mouth. I didn’t want to talk through a tube in my throat.  But it was not easy to stop this habit that can have such an addictive hold. I stopped several times before I learned how to quit. I read a book that said it takes only 5 days to get the chemicals from smoking out of your blood stream.  I repeated that to myself every time I thought I wanted to light a cigarette. I told myself just wait 10 minutes. If you still want to smoke then, you can. After an hour went by I realized that I had gone much longer than 10 minutes. After the first day I knew I only had four more days to go. And on day three I couldn’t start back up because I only had two more days to go. I told myself I was bigger than that little stick of tobacco.  On day six, I knew I had the chemicals out of my blood stream, but I still wanted to smoke. I realized I needed a new habit. I had to change my behavior and learn to do something else with my hands. I held a ball point pen as if it were a cigarette, then I would take a long, deep inhale as if I were taking a drag on the cigarette. Pretty soon I had that bad habit, that nicotine addiction licked. If you want to lick something, maybe this will give you the support you need to find what will help you be successful.  I quit smoking “cold turkey”. Quitting food is quite another story. I haven’t got a magic answer for that one yet. I like the way food tastes and I need to change my thinking and my behavior. So this article is not really about tax deductions or tax credits, it is about your good health. I’d rather see that for you than than a medical deduction.