How to Claim Medical Insurance

The cost of medical insurance may be tax deductible.

The Internal Revenue Service allows people to claim a number of additional tax deductions if they itemize their deductions instead of claiming the standard deduction. If you choose to itemize, you can deduct the cost of your medical insurance as part of the medical and dental expenses tax deduction. In order to claim the deduction, you must file your taxes using form 1040 and complete Schedule A. You should only claim the deduction if the total of your itemized deductions exceeds the value of your standard deduction.

Things You'll Need

• Schedule A
• Form 1040

Instructions

1. Total the unreimbursed cost of your medical insurance for the year. If your company pays you back for a portion or all of your costs, you cannot claim that portion as a deduction.

2. Add any other unreimbursed qualifying medical expenses to your total medical insurance costs. All medical costs are lumped into one large deduction. Other qualifying medical costs include doctors visits, trips to the dentist, eye care, prescription drugs, preventative care and surgery.

3. Report the total amount of your qualifying medical expenses on line 1 of your Schedule A.

4. Copy your adjusted gross income from line 38 of your form 1040 tax return onto line 2 of Schedule A.

5. Multiply your adjusted gross income by 0.075 and write the result on line 3. For example, if your adjusted gross income was $45,000, you would multiply $45,000 by 0.075 to get $3,375.

6. Subtract line 3 from line 1 to determine the value of your medical expenses deduction and write the result on line 4. Finishing the example, if you had $4,375 in medical expenses, you would subtract $3,375 from $4,375 to find that you deduction was worth $1,000, which would be recorded on line 4.

References

• IRS: Topic 502 - Medical and Dental Expenses
• IRS: Publication 502

Resources

• IRS: Schedule A