I am itemizing my tax return. Which medical expenses can I deduct?
When itemizing your medical expenses, the medical expenses you can deduct include:
For the treatment of a disease:
- Diagnosis
- Curing
- Easing
- Treatment
- Prevention
If one of those applies, you can also include the associated costs for:
- Equipment
- Supplies
- Diagnostic services
The expenses must be primarily to improve or prevent a physical or mental deficiency or illness.
Deductible medical expenses include:
- Acupuncture
- Alcoholism treatment
- Ambulance service
- Annual physicals
- Bandages
- Birth control
- Body scan
- Braces
- Braille books and magazines for the visually impaired
- Breast pumps and supplies
- Chiropractic care
- Christian Science practitioner care
- Contact lenses and the supplies required to maintain them
- Necessary dental treatment (doesn’t include whitening)
- Diagnostic devices (Ex: blood sugar test kit for a diabetic)
- Drug addiction treatment
- Prescribed medications
- Eye doctor
- Eye glasses
- Eye surgery
- Fertility enhancement
- Guide dog or other service animal
- Hearing aids
- Home care
- Insulin
- Insurance premiums
- Lab fees
- Lead-based paint removal (not repainting)
- Certain Medicare A, B, and, D
- Nursing home or services
- Oxygen
- Physical or occupational therapy
- Prosthesis
- Psychiatric care
- Psychologist
- Sex-reassignment surgery and related hormone therapy for the treatment of gender-identity disorder disease
- Sterilization
- Smoking cessation programs except over-the-counter nicotine gums and patches
- Surgery
- Transplants
- Transportation to obtain medical care
- X-rays
Related Resources
Do you know what your tax filing status is? Learn how to determine and check your tax filing status with H&R Block.
Learn how to deduct student loan interest with H&R Block. Get information about qualified education expenses and see if a student loan tax deduction applies to you.
Tax season is right around the corner! Consider how the withholding allowances claimed on your Form W-4 could affect your income tax refund by visiting the Tax Information Center blog.
Expats are subject to recent changes under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act much like any other taxpayer. Read on to learn more about how to prepare in the Tax Information Center.
