What can I deduct for medical and dental expenses?

The following is a list of items that you can or cannot include in figuring your medical expense deduction. The items are listed in alphabetical order.

Abortion  
Acupuncture  
Alcoholism  
Ambulance  
Artificial Limb  
Artificial Teeth  
Baby Sitting and Child Care  
Birth Control Pills  
Braille Books and Magazines  
Capital Expenses You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for special equipment installed in your home, or for improvements, if their main purpose is medical care for you, your spouse, or another dependent.
Chiropractor  
Christian Science Practitioner  
Contact Lenses  
Crutches  
Dental Treatment You can include in medical expenses the amounts you pay for dental treatment. This includes fees paid to dentists for X-rays, fillings, braces, extractions, dentures, etc.
Drug Addiction  
Drugs  
Eyeglasses  
Guide Dog or Other Animal  
Health Club Dues  
Health Institute  
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)  
Hearing Aids  
Home Care  
Hospital Services  
Insurance Premiums For policies that cover medical care.
Lead-based Paint Removal  
Learning Disability  
Legal Fees You can include in medical expenses legal fees you paid that are necessary to authorize treatment for mental illness. However, you cannot include in medical expenses fees for management of a guardianship estate, fees for conducting the affairs of the person being treated, or other fees that are not necessary for medical care.
Lifetime Care - Advance Payments You can include in medical expenses a part of a life-care fee or "founder's fee" you pay either monthly or as a lump sum under an agreement with a retirement home. The part of the payment you include is the amount properly allocable to medical care. The agreement must require that you pay a specific fee as a condition for the home's promise to provide lifetime care that includes medical care.
Dependents with disabilities You can include in medical expenses advance payments to a private institution for lifetime care, treatment, and training of your physically or mentally impaired dependent upon your death or when you become unable to provide care. The payments must be a condition for the institution's future acceptance of your dependent and must not be refundable.
Medical Information Plan You can include in medical expenses amounts paid to a plan that keeps your medical information so that it can be retrieved from a computer data bank for your medical care.
Operations You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for legal operations that are not for unnecessary cosmetic surgery.
Optometrist See Eyeglasses
Osteopath You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to an osteopath for medical care.
Psychiatric Care You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for psychiatric care. This includes the cost of supporting a mentally ill dependent at a specially equipped medical center where the dependent receives medical care. See Psychoanalysis and Transportation.
Psychoanalysis You can include in medical expenses payments for psychoanalysis. However, you cannot include payments for psychoanalysis that you must get as part of your training to be a psychoanalyst.
Psychologist You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to a psychologist for medical care.
Schools and Education, Special You can include in medical expenses payments to a special school for a mentally impaired or physically disabled person if the main reason for using the school is its resources for relieving the disability.
Sterilization You can include in medical expenses the cost of a legal sterilization (a legally performed operation to make a person unable to have children).
Transplants You can include in medical expenses payments you make for surgical, hospital, laboratory, and transportation expenses for a donor or a possible donor of a kidney or other organ. You cannot include expenses if you did not pay for them.
Transportation Amounts paid for transportation primarily for, and essential to, medical care qualify as medical 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 include actual expenses or use the standard mileage rate.
Tuition You can include in medical expenses charges for medical care included in the tuition of a college or private school, if the charges are separately stated in the bill or given to you by the school.
Weight Loss Program You cannot include the cost of a weight loss program for your general health even if your doctor prescribes the program.
Wheelchair You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for an autoette or wheelchair used mainly for the relief of sickness or disability, and not just to provide transportation to and from work. The cost of operating and keeping up the autoette or wheelchair is also a medical expense.
X-ray Fees You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for X-rays that you get for medical reasons.