Taxes Tax Credits & Deductions Are Health Insurance Premiums Tax Deductible? By William Perez Updated on January 9, 2023 Reviewed by Lea D. Uradu Fact checked by David Rubin In This Article View All In This Article The Medical Expense Deduction It Doesn't Apply to All Your Income Tax Deduction vs. Pre-Tax Deduction If You’re Self-Employed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Photo: The Balance / Julie Bang Being able to claim a tax deduction for the cost of health insurance depends on several factors. Self-employed people are typically able to deduct health insurance payments, as are people who paid for their insurance using after-tax dollars. Taxpayers who itemize are also eligible for additional medical and dental expense tax deductions. Key Takeaways Employees benefit when health insurance premiums are deducted from their pay before taxes are withheld from the balance without any of the limitations associated with claiming an itemized deduction.Self-employed persons can deduct health insurance "above the line" as an adjustment to income by filing Schedule 1 with their tax returns. This also eliminates the hassle and limitations of itemizing.Other taxpayers can deduct the cost of health insurance as an itemized deduction to the extent that their overall medical and dental expenses exceed 7.5% of their adjusted gross incomes. The Medical Expense Deduction Health insurance costs are included among expenses that are eligible for the medical expense deduction. You must itemize to claim this deduction, and it’s limited to the total amount of your overall costs that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). How To Apply the Percentage Threshold The 7.5% rule won't usually help unless you have significant medical expenses in addition to your insurance premiums. You can include these expenses in the deduction to help you get over the 7.5% threshold. For example, you could not deduct your premiums if your AGI was $60,000 and you paid $4,500 in health insurance premiums over the course of the tax year because 7.5% of your AGI works out to $4,500. You didn’t pay anything in excess of $4,500 so you have no deduction. But if you’ve spent a cumulative total of $7,500 that means you paid $3,000 more than your threshold in uninsured medical expenses. You can claim that $3,000 as an itemized tax deduction. The Threshold Doesn't Apply to All Your Income The good news is that this percentage applies to your AGI instead of your total gross income. This is the number that's arrived at after you've taken certain above-the-line deductions on Schedule 1 of your Form 1040 tax return, which can reduce your gross income. Note Your AGI appears on line 11 of your Form 1040 before you subtract your itemized deductions or the standard deduction for your filing status on line 12. Above-the-line deductions include things like certain retirement plan contributions, tuition, and student loan interest. Your AGI will typically be less than your overall income if you can claim any of these deductions. For example, you might have earned $60,000, but your AGI would be just $54,000 if you contributed $6,000 to your IRA in that year. Your 7.5% threshold would drop from $4,500 to $4,050 in our example. Tax Deduction vs. Pre-Tax Pay Deduction Employees who pay for health insurance with pre-tax dollars through payroll deductions aren’t eligible to take a further deduction for these same expenses. Check your pay stubs if you’re unsure how you’re paying for insurance that's available through your employer. You're using pre-tax dollars if the deductions are made before your employer calculates your tax withholding on the balance. Note Paying for health insurance as a pre-tax pay deduction can be more advantageous and may well save you more money than taking the itemized deduction for medical expenses. Pre-tax health benefits reduce your taxable income. The income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax that you must pay are all percentages of your taxable income. If You’re Self-Employed Self-employed persons can take a deduction for health insurance premiums they pay for themselves and their dependents on line 17 of the Schedule 1 form. This is another above-the-line adjustment to income. You can then transfer the total of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to your tax return. This is one of those deductions that can reduce your AGI from the total of your gross income, and you don't have to itemize your deductions to take it. It's not limited by the 7.5%-of-AGI rule, either. You can claim up to 100% of what you spent on premiums if you're self-employed, but the deduction is limited to no more than your net self-employment income. But any premiums beyond your net self-employment income can be claimed as an itemized deduction, along with any other out-of-pocket medical expenses. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What types of costs are included in the medical expense deduction? The IRS allows you to deduct any medical or dental expenses for you, your spouse, or your dependents. These could include costs related to seeing a doctor, getting a pair of glasses, transportation to essential care, and the premiums you pay for health care. How do you claim deductions for health insurance premiums on your tax return? Medical expense deductions, including any deductions for insurance premiums, are made on Schedule A of IRS Form 1040. Schedule A includes numerous other deductions as well, so itemizing can help you reduce your tax bill if your itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. IRS. "Topic No. 502 Medical and Dental Expenses." IRS. "Schedule 1 (Form 1040): Additional Income and Adjustments to Income." IRS. "Form 1040: U.S. Individual Income Tax Return." IRS. "Definition of Adjusted Gross Income." Tax Policy Center. "How Does the Tax Exclusion for Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Work?"