Medical care expenses include amounts paid for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and for treatments affecting any part or function of the body. The expenses must be primarily to alleviate or prevent a physical or mental defect or illness. Expenses for solely cosmetic reasons generally are not expenses for medical care. Also, expenses that are merely beneficial to one's general health (for example, vacations) are not expenses for medical care.

Use Table 23-1 in this chapter as a guide to determine which medical and dental expenses you can include on Schedule A (Form 1040). See Publication 502 for information about other expenses you can include.

Table 23-1. Medical expense checklist

Medical Insurance Premiums

You can include in medical expenses insurance premiums you pay for policies that cover medical care. Policies can provide payment for:

• Hospitalization, surgical fees, X-rays, etc.,
• Prescription drugs,
• Replacement of lost or damaged contact lenses,
• Membership in an association that gives cooperative or so-called "free-choice" medical service, or group hospitalization and clinical care, or
• Qualified long-term care insurance contracts (subject to additional limitations). See Long-term Care Contracts, Qualified in Publication 502.

If you have a policy that provides more than one kind of payment, you can include the premiums for the medical care part of the policy if the charge for the medical part is reasonable. The cost of the medical portion must be separately stated in the insurance contract or given to you in a separate statement.

Cafeteria plans.
Do not include in your medical and dental expenses insurance premiums paid by an employer-sponsored health insurance plan (cafeteria plan) unless the premiums are included in box 1 of your Form(s) W-2. Also, do not include any other medical and dental expenses paid by the plan unless the amount paid is included in box 1 of your Form(s) W-2.

Medicare A.
If you are covered under social security (or if you are a government employee who paid Medicare tax), you are enrolled in Medicare A. The payroll tax paid for Medicare A is not a medical expense. If you are not covered under social security (or were not a government employee who paid Medicare tax), you can voluntarily enroll in Medicare A. In this situation the premiums paid for Medicare A can be included as a medical expense on your tax return.

Medicare B.
Medicare B is a supplemental medical insurance. Premiums you pay for Medicare B are a medical expense. If you applied for it at age 65 or after you became disabled, you can deduct the monthly premiums you paid. If you were over age 65 or disabled when you first enrolled, check the information you received from the Social Security Administration to find out your premium.

Prepaid insurance premiums.
Premiums you pay before you are 65 for insurance for medical care for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents after you reach 65 are medical care expenses in the year paid if they are:

1. Payable in equal yearly installments, or more often, and
2. Payable for at least 10 years, or until you reach 65 (but not for less than 5 years).

Unused sick leave used to pay premiums.
You must include in gross income cash payments you receive at the time of retirement for unused sick leave. You must also include in gross income the value of unused sick leave that, at your option, your employer applies to the cost of your continuing participation in your employer's health plan after you retire. You can include this cost of continuing participation in the health plan as a medical expense.

If you participate in a health plan where your employer automatically applies the value of unused sick leave to the cost of your continuing participation in the health plan (and you do not have the option to receive cash), you do not include the value of the unused sick leave in gross income. You cannot include this cost of continuing participation in that health plan as a medical expense.

Health Insurance Costs for Self-Employed Persons

If you were self-employed and had a net profit for the year, you may be able to deduct up to 60% of the amount paid for health insurance on behalf of yourself, your spouse, and dependents. If you itemize your deductions, include the remaining premiums with all other medical care expenses on Schedule A (Form 1040), subject to the 7.5% limit. See Publication 535, Business Expenses, for more information.

Meals and Lodging

You can include in medical expenses the cost of meals and lodging at a hospital or similar institution if your main reason for being there is to receive medical care. See Nursing home, later.

You may be able to include in medical expenses the cost of lodging not provided in a hospital or similar institution. You can include the cost of such lodging while away from home if you meet all of the following requirements.

1. The lodging is primarily for and essential to medical care.
2. The medical care is provided by a doctor in a licensed hospital or in a medical care facility related to, or the equivalent of, a licensed hospital.
3. The lodging is not lavish or extravagant under the circumstances.
4. There is no significant element of personal pleasure, recreation, or vacation in the travel away from home.

The amount you include in medical expenses for lodging cannot be more than $50 for each night for each person. You can include lodging for a person traveling with the person receiving the medical care. For example, if a parent is traveling with a sick child, up to $100 per night is included as a medical expense for lodging. (Meals are not deductible.)

Nursing home.
You can include in medical expenses the cost of medical care in a nursing home or home for the aged for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents. This includes the cost of meals and lodging in the home if the main reason for being there is to get medical care.

Do not include the cost of meals and lodging if the reason for being in the home is personal. You can, however, include in medical expenses the part of the cost that is for medical or nursing care.

Transportation

You can include in medical expenses amounts paid for transportation primarily for, and essential to, medical care.

You can include:

• Bus, taxi, train, or plane fares, or ambulance service,
• Transportation expenses of a parent who must go with a child who needs medical care,
• Transportation expenses of a nurse or other person who can give injections, medications, or other treatment required by a patient who is traveling to get medical care and is unable to travel alone, and
• Transportation expenses for regular visits to see a mentally ill dependent, if these visits are recommended as a part of treatment.

You cannot include:

• Transportation expenses to and from work even if your condition requires an unusual means of transportation, or
• Transportation expenses if, for nonmedical reasons only, you choose to travel to another city, such as a resort area, for an operation or other medical care prescribed by your doctor.

Car expenses.
You can include out-of-pocket expenses for your car, such as gas and oil when you use your car for medical reasons. You cannot include depreciation, insurance, general repair, or maintenance expenses.

If you do not want to use your actual expenses, you can use a standard rate of 10 cents a mile for use of your car for medical reasons.

You can also include the cost of parking fees and tolls. You can add these fees and tolls to your medical expenses whether you use actual expenses or use the standard mileage rate.

Example.
Bill Jones drove 2,800 miles for medical reasons during the year. He spent $200 for gas, $5 for oil, and $50 for tolls and parking. He wants to figure the amount he can include in medical expenses both ways to see which gives him the greater deduction.

He figures the actual expenses first. He adds the $200 for gas, the $5 for oil, and the $50 for tolls and parking for a total of $255.

He then figures the standard mileage amount. He multiplies the 2,800 miles by 10 cents a mile for a total of $280. He then adds the $50 tolls and parking for a total of $330.

Bill includes the $330 of car expenses with his other medical expenses for the year because the $330 is more than the $255 he figured using actual expenses.

Disabled Dependent Care Expenses

Some disabled dependent care expenses may qualify as medical expenses or as work-related expenses for purposes of taking a credit for dependent care. (See chapter 33.) You can choose to apply them either way as long as you do not use the same expenses to claim both a credit and a medical expense deduction.

Impairment-Related Work Expenses (Business or Medical)

Certain unreimbursed expenses may appear to be deductible as either medical or business expenses. Deduct them as business deductions if they are:

• Necessary for you to do your work satisfactorily,
• For goods or services not required or used, other than incidentally, in your personal activities, and
• Not specifically covered under other income tax laws.

Example.
You are blind. You must use a reader to do your work. You use the reader both during your regular working hours at your place of work and outside your regular working hours away from your place of work. The reader's services are only for your work. You can deduct your expenses for the reader as business expenses.

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