Seniors, ever had enough medical/dental costs to get an itemized deduction?
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I keep saving every drugstore receipt and insurance statement but never come close. Then I end up with a big stack of stuff to be shredded. The only time I was able to deduct was when I had dental surgery, implants and crowns.
We get a small break on this if we are 65 or older.
Most of you posting in this thread probably know this already, but the allowable itemized deduction for medical and dental expenses is only for that portion of the expenses which exceeds 10% of our adjusted gross income. But for 65 and older, the 10% goes down to 7.5%. Let's attach some numbers to that.
Assuming a modest, but still middle-class adjusted gross income of $50,000, one would need to have $5,000 in medical/dental expenses before even getting the first dollar as a tax deduction. But if one is 65 and over, that amount (at 7.5%) is reduced to $3,750. So rather than having no deduction at all for $5,000 of expenses, the older person with the same $50,000 in adjusted gross income (and the same $5,000 in medical costs) would get a deduction of $1,250. I didn't look up what tax bracket that would be, but it probably represents two or three hundred dollars in tax savings.
Has the ACA reduced your insurance costs? ie the sum of the premiums and out of pocket expenses?
It appears to me that many of those plans have large out of pocket expenses.
Our current insurance is not under the ACA. It's through DH's former employer. For us, the ACA would have been no less expensive than our current insurance.
Our current insurance is not under the ACA. It's through DH's former employer. For us, the ACA would have been no less expensive than our current insurance.
Ditto.
Also, my doctors were NOT part of the HMOs supplied by the state exchanges.
Yes, hearing aids are over the top. Crazy that there isn't something paid for by Medicare. I know several retired people who really need them but can't afford them. That is nuts to me.
I never had enough medical to deduct and am still working. I can't imagine having enough in retirement.
Last edited by brava4; 03-02-2015 at 11:41 AM..
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