You may be able to subtract all or a portion of the cost of your medical care insurance. Medical care insurance means a medical care insurance policy that covers you, your spouse, and dependents and provides surgical, medical, hospital, major medical, or other health service coverage (including dental insurance).
It does not include premiums for:
- Long-term care insurance,
- Life insurance policies,
- Policies providing payment for loss of earnings,
- Policies for loss of life, limb, sight, etc.,
- Policies that pay you a guaranteed amount each week for a stated number of weeks if you are hospitalized for sickness or injury,
- The part of your car insurance premiums that provides medical insurance coverage for all persons injured in or by your car, or
- Medical care insurance if you elected to pay these premiums with tax-free distributions from a retirement plan. In this case, the premiums would have been paid directly to the insurance provider by the retirement plan.
CAUTION Do not include insurance premiums paid by an employer unless the premiums are included as wages in box 1 of your Form W-2. Premiums that are deducted pre-tax are not included in box 1 of your Form W-2.
If you participate in your employer's fringe benefit cafeteria plan and agree to a voluntary salary reduction in return for a medical care insurance benefit, you may not consider the amount of your salary reduction an amount you paid for medical care insurance. You cannot subtract premiums paid with money that has not been included in your gross income. Such programs may be known as, for example, flexible spending accounts, employee reimbursement accounts, etc. Some employers may identify these amounts on your pay stubs as Internal Revenue Code sec. 125 or as a pre-tax deduction.