Baucus Health Bill Could Prevent Medical Expense Deductions: Wheelchairs, Chemotherapy, Seeing-Eye Dogs

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
By Matt Cover

(CNSNews.com) – The health care reform legislation outlined by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and the Senate Finance Committee includes a provision that would raise the threshold for deducting costly medical expenses from income tax returns. People who do not meet that higher threshold could see their taxes rise.

The exemption, used by cancer patients and those with other costly, chronic diseases, allows people to deduct a variety of medical expenses--those not covered by insurance--from their income taxes, if those expenses amount to 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income.

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), expenses such as surgeries, chemotherapy, wheelchairs, and guide dogs for the blind can be deducted, ensuring that people who need these treatments are not taxed on the income they use to pay for them.

“Medical care expenses include payments for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or treatment affecting any structure or function of the body,â€