IHRSA - CampaignforaHealthierAmerica

Campaign for a Healthier America

Join the Virtual March on Washington
You know how important exercise is to you and your members. Now it’s time to let legislators know. You can become the change for a healthier America. Here’s what you can do:

Send an e-mail and tell legislators your story that epitomizes how exercise and living healthy have impacted your life and the lives of your members.
Get your members involved. Hang up this poster in your club.
Download a brochure. Distribute this educational brochure from your front desk and locker rooms.

Create a 2-3 minute video message to legislators illustrating your story and e-mail it to IHRSA.
Share your photographs promoting a healthier America. We will upload them to flickr.com/campaign4health.

Engage your club members in the Virtual March.
Download and display these materials in your club. Help your members save money!

Poster

Brochure

Blogger

Movement for a Healthier America

follow me on Twitter

What is the Campaign for a Healthier America?
The Campaign for a Healthier America is a national grassroots project bringing together exercise enthusiasts to make healthy lifestyles a priority for all Americans.

The Campaign seeks to bring the fitness industry together with government, employers, medical and public health professionals, insurance providers, schools, and each of us individually.

What We Are Working Towards
We must work as one to create a culture and environment of wellness. To achieve this, we will:

Encourage regular exercise and healthy eating for people of all ages and physical conditions
Engage Americans in grassroots efforts to make their communities healthier
Ask policymakers to encourage exercise by creating tax incentives and removing financial barriers

What Federal Legislation Means for Your Club A healthy lifestyle starts with exercise; and exercise starts at a health club.

Health clubs provide a community that fosters the adoption of healthy lifestyles. As a fitness professional, you can help build a healthier America.

Grow the health club community and your membership by supporting the WHIP and PHIT Acts, and make exercise affordable for more Americans.

Help promote the fitness industry by sharing the role exercise plays in your life.

Workforce Health Improvement Program Act
Under current law, employers and employees may be discouraged from offering or using a health benefit of membership to a health club. That's because while employees are not taxed for the benefit of using an in-house workout facility, they are forced to report the benefit of a membership to an off-site fitness facility as additional income. This forces employers to deal with more IRS paperwork and increases employees' taxes for using their benefits.The WHIP Act would resolve this tax inequity.

Personal Health Investment Today Act
The PHIT Act will significantly reduce physical fitness costs for the American public, giving them a greater incentive to join a fitness facility or purchase exercise equipment. This will help individual fitness facilities by making fitness facility memberships even more affordable.