It’s tax time, and you have dutifully kept receipts for all treatments, services, and products related to maintaining wellness in 2006.

If you’re among the 11% of the population over age 50 living without pharmaceutical drugs, most of these receipts were not covered by health insurance. They’re costs of out your pocket.

How does the IRS treat the American who’s managing their health without use of drugs, frequent doctor visits and attendant diagnostics? In a word—poorly. If you’re staying well with supplements, exercise, and herbs to manage any chronic diseases, you’re expenses won’t come close to the 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income required to gain any tax break.

Some of the categories of medical treatment that are natural treatments for wellness are theoretically deductible: acupuncture, chiropractor, and osteopathy. Curiously, the admission fees and transportation to attend a medical conference concerning a chronic illness that you or a family member have are deductible (not meals and lodging, however). You can educate yourself. The services of a Christian Science Practitioner are permitted, and if the insurance company covers the cost of a Native American medicine man, I suspect the IRS would permit it.

America’s Most Popular Health programs Not Deductible
However, the programs most commonly supported by America’s companies, which pay most of America’s health insurance costs, are not among permitted deductibles: weight-loss programs, health club dues, nor smoking cessation patches and medicines (though talking about stopping smoking, aka support groups, is deductible).

Other expenses not allowed: insurance premiums, which if you’re in the troika of the AMA-insurance-Pharma may be your greatest expense; nonprescription drugs and meds; nutritional supplements; imported drugs (illegal—you’ve bypassed US Pharma’s prices).

In general, the IRS does allow expenses “that are merely beneficial to general health, such as vitamins or a vacation.” (See IRS Publication #502) Or a vacation?

Not too much fun when traveling for Medical Care
The IRS hasn’t quite got a handle on medical tourism. If you’re going to India for heart surgery and paying $12,000 (inclusive of travel costs, surgery, drugs, and follow-up care for weeks) instead of $120,000 in your local hospital, you probably don’t care that you still haven’t reached 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income. You’ve extended your life and improved your quality of life. The IRS rule: travel for medical care is deductible “if there is not a significant element of personal pleasure, recreation or vacation in the travel away from home.” Your spouse could probably slip away to see a temple or two (praying for you, of course). If the travel is for cosmetic surgery, whether in your state or in Costa Rica, forget it.

The bottom line is: there is no tax incentive for wellness. A progressive tax system would permit deductions for all therapies, supplements and herbs that maintain health and prevent illness including stress-reducers such as a yoga, tai-chi, etc. Reasoning: even the AMA recognizes the need for multi-vitamins to prevent many modern ailments, and stress is the root cause of 40 percent of all illnesses.

Rescind the 7.5 rule which was put into effect in the early ‘80s. As the nation’s largest generation, 75 million, move into their “senior years” where historically medical costs rise dramatically, in the long run the loss of revenue to the IRS would surely be more than saved in national health care costs.

Salud!
Beverly A. Jensen, Ph.D.
President, www.WomensMedicineBowl.com