New Bill Would Increase Tax Break for Medical Expenses

The Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation’s move to ease the burden of medical expenses for Sjögren’s syndrome patients gets into high gear with the latest bill introduced in Congress. The bill calls for 100% tax deductibility for individuals’ medical expenses. The “Health Care Freedom of Choice Act,” sponsored by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA), would eliminate the current requirement that patients spend 7.5% of gross wages before becoming eligible for a tax deduction.

SSF has already worked on a bill that would allow inclusion of OTC drugs and products in medical tax deductions. In the “OTC Medicine Tax Fairness Act” sponsored by Rep. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), patients would be allowed to add OTC expenses to other medically necessary costs, including prescription, hospital, and doctors’ bills not covered by health insurance. Patients would still need to reach the currently allowed minimum of 7.5% of gross wages before deducting those costs on their taxes. (See Advocacy News story on this bill for details.) Now, Cox’s bill would allow patients to deduct medically necessary costs without worrying about whether they reach expenses of at least 7.5% of gross wages.

Cox’s bill eliminates the current minimum but does not change the tax code description of items sanctioned under medical care. The DeMint-Slaughter bill changes the description of legitimate medical expenses to include anything medically necessary, including OTC expenses, but it does not change the current percentage of gross wages. Together, if both bills become law, someone could deduct all medical expenses, and those expenses could include OTC costs.

Cox’s bill would help those not covered, or not fully covered, by employer health plans. Individuals who pay for medical care out-of-pocket, supplement employer health plans, or choose medical care or physicians not included in plans, do so with personal dollars that have already been taxed. Businesses can deduct health care benefits provided to employees, and Cox believes individuals should be able to deduct all medical expenses and will therefore have a greater ability to make personal choices in their own healthcare.

Write your U.S. Representative!
Click here to view a sample letter which you can send to your congressional member to request their support for both the Cox bill (HR 1117) and the DeMint-Slaughter bill (HR 3596). Your letter will receive greater attention if you are able to write your own letter, using your own words and personal examples. However, using a letter that others might send is much better than not contacting your legislators at all!

Find your legislators’ e-mail or local office addresses by clicking here: http://www.sjogrens.org/advocacy/representative.html

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