What Medical Insurance Can I Deduct?

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).

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 part must be separately stated in the insurance contract or given to you in a separate statement.

Employer-sponsored health insurance plan. Do not include in your medical and dental expenses on Schedule A (Form 1040) any insurance premiums paid by an employer-sponsored health insurance plan unless the premiums are included in box 1 of your Form W–2. Also, do not include on Schedule A (Form 1040) any other medical and dental expenses paid by the plan unless the amount paid is included in box 1 of your Form 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 you 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 age 65 for insurance for medical care for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents after you reach age 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 age 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), 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.

You cannot include premiums you pay for:

• Life insurance policies,

• Policies providing payment for loss of earnings,

• Policies for loss of life, limb, sight, etc.,

• Policies that pay you a guaranteed amount each week for a stated number of weeks if you are hospitalized for sickness or injury, or

• The part of your car insurance premiums that provides medical insurance coverage for all persons injured in or by your car because the part of the premium for you, your spouse, and your dependents is not stated separately from the part of the premium for medical care for others.