Personal Finance (Not Investing) • When is physical therapy tax deductible?

Because it seems that the PTs think that the bar for Medicare to pay for PT is higher than what I (and probably my mother's doctor) think it should be to consider it medically necessary. The PT is very clearly helping to prevent my mother from falling. I suspect that her doctor would be willing to put that in writing - specifically, that the PT is being done to maintain her strength and balance in order to prevent falls, and is therefore medically necessary. That is apparently insufficient for the PTs to submit to Medicare (well, specifically, they say having a doctor's prescription alone isn't sufficient), but that doesn't necessarily mean it's insufficient to convince the IRS that it's medically necessary for the purposes of claiming a tax deduction.

That is one of the strangest things I have ever heard, and I suspect you are getting ripped off, and the real reason is the cash pay price is higher than the Medicare reimbursement rate.

That thought occurred to me as well. The obvious course of action would be to find a different PT company, but it's not quite so simple. My mother lives in an assisted living facility that has an outpatient PT department. She just has to walk over to that wing for her sessions, rather than going somewhere, which is not easy at her age. In-home visits might be possible and be just as good, but they can't bring the equipment they have access to in a facility. And just as important, she really likes her main therapist, with whom she has a fantastic relationship. It makes her PT sessions one of the highlights of her life, which is otherwise pretty much devoid of highlights other than seeing my family regularly. It's hard to convey the impact of this on her life: when you're in your 90s and everything is on a constant downhill trajectory (physical, mental, emotional), to find something that reverses or at least stabilizes all three is incredibly rare and a true godsend. I would spend every last penny (of her money and my inheritance) on it to give her that happiness for as long as she's with us. But it would be nice if it were tax deductible.

Statistics: Posted by snic — Sun Dec 08, 2024 7:32 am — Replies 13 — Views 647

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