Out-of-pocket medical expenses can be deductible on your federal income tax return, but only if they meet several conditions and you itemize your deductions instead of taking the standard deduction.

Core rule: when they’re deductible

  • You can deduct qualified , unreimbursed medical and dental expenses you paid for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. These must not have been reimbursed by insurance, HSA, FSA, or similar plans.
  • Only the portion of your total qualified medical expenses that exceeds 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) is deductible, and only if you itemize on Schedule A instead of using the standard deduction.

Example: If your AGI is 60,000 and you have 8,000 of qualified, unreimbursed medical expenses, 7.5% of 60,000 is 4,500, so only 3,500 would potentially be deductible (8,000 − 4,500).

What counts as “qualified” medical expenses

Many common out-of-pocket costs can count as deductible medical expenses if they are primarily to diagnose, treat, mitigate, or prevent a physical or mental disease, not for general health.

Typical qualified expenses include:

  • Payments to doctors, dentists, surgeons, chiropractors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other licensed medical practitioners
  • Hospital care, clinic visits, lab fees, and eligible nursing services
  • Prescription drugs and insulin (not over-the-counter drugs unless specifically allowed by law)
  • Premiums you pay with after-tax dollars for medical, dental, and certain long-term care insurance, if not paid pre‑tax by your employer
  • Medically necessary items such as eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids, wheelchairs, crutches, and similar equipment
  • Certain medically necessary home improvements (for example, to add ramps or widen doors for accessibility), limited to the portion that does not add to the home’s value

Expenses that are usually not deductible include purely cosmetic surgery, health club dues, nonprescription vitamins for general health, and most personal or household items.

Key limits and interaction with other health accounts

  • You cannot deduct amounts that were paid with pre‑tax dollars from HSAs, FSAs, or similar accounts, or that were reimbursed by insurance; those are no longer your true out‑of‑pocket costs for tax purposes.
  • The 7.5% AGI threshold applies for 2025 and 2026 under current rules, meaning only expenses above that level are potentially deductible when you itemize.
  • High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and related accounts (HSAs/MSAs) have their own IRS inflation‑adjusted limits for deductibles and out‑of‑pocket maximums, but those limits affect plan design and contributions, not directly how much you can deduct as itemized medical expenses.

Practical steps if you’re considering the deduction

  1. Gather receipts and statements
    • Keep detailed records of all potential medical expenses: bills, pharmacy receipts, insurance EOBs, and proof of payments.
  1. Separate reimbursed vs. truly out-of-pocket
    • Mark which amounts were reimbursed by insurance, HSA, or FSA and exclude those from your medical deduction calculation.
  1. Calculate your 7.5% AGI threshold
    • Multiply your AGI by 7.5% to find the “floor”; only qualified expenses above that number can be deducted.
  1. Compare itemizing vs. standard deduction
    • Add your deductible medical expenses (above the 7.5% floor) to other itemized deductions like mortgage interest, state and local taxes (subject to caps), and charitable gifts, then compare that total with your standard deduction to see which is more beneficial.

“Latest news” and discussion context

  • Recent tax-years (including 2025–2026) continue to use the 7.5% AGI threshold for medical deductions, so there has not been a new higher floor announced for these years, though other health-related thresholds (like HDHP deductibles and out‑of‑pocket maximums) are adjusted for inflation.
  • There is periodic political talk and media coverage about expanding or simplifying health care deductions (for example, proposals for larger fixed health-care deductions), but as of the latest public information these are proposals rather than enacted changes, so the standard medical expense rules still apply.

Bottom line: Out-of-pocket medical expenses can be deductible, but only if they are qualified, unreimbursed, exceed 7.5% of your AGI, and you itemize rather than taking the standard deduction.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.