Fortune Small Business is running a feature, "The Next Little Thing" (big ideas from small businesses). They're all pretty cool, but the bold ones in particular grabbed me:

• Six-foot roses
• An ATM for books
• Removable tattoos
• Electricity from wave power
• Cow parts for medical devices
• Street-smart filters for rainwater
• Drug plans go generic
• Lunch-hour liposuction
• Your new bankers: Hedge funds
• Tap the tide

Shee-it (emphasis added):

Last year, patient care director Colleen Becker decided to check the numbers. She looked at a daily hospital census—about one-third of the 900 patients weighed 350 pounds or more.

Startled, Becker checked another date, then another.

The numbers were consistent. On some days, half the patients were obese. Some weighed 500 pounds or more.

"We ran the data again to make sure we weren't hallucinating," Becker said. "We weren't. So we had to somehow figure out the appropriate supplies, equipment, training and care for the patients we're dealing with."

So here's an idea: tax credits for fitness. To qualify, if you're fit, your doctor gives you a form you can attach to your return at your annual checkup. I'm betting any economic loss in tax revenue would be offset by the reduced obesity-related burdens on our health care system (the economic damage goes far beyond hospitals buying reinforced beds and such).