I don't mean to sound mercenary, but if insurance doesn't reimburse overseas procedures, will the US Gov't let you take a tax deduction for the medical expenses? How about travel expenses?

If you itemize and pass a certian %of you income as medical expense you can deduct the difference.

In CA I looked at it, I think I would have to need to have more then ~5.6k$ before deduction kicks in, but of course I could be totally wrong... ;-)

Yep - if you itemize, you can claim medical expenses (including overseas - but not the flight, hotels, etc.) I used Turbo Tax and it automatically figures out the deduction for you - I think the expenses have to be approx. 7% of your annual taxable income.

My insurance company reimbursed me 90% of those costs mid-2004, after I filed for 2003, so I might have to claim the reimbursement as income for 2004 (checking with a tax attorney).

I agree with queenofhearts - if you itemize your deductions, you can deduct all eligible medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your gross annual ajusted income. I'd surf over to the IRS web-page and review their publication on medical deductions. The last time I reviewed it, medical travel expenses (airfare, train, parking, mileage to the airport, taxis, etc) were fully deductible, hotel was deductible up to 50$ per night, food was not deductible, all medical expenses including services and durable goods were fully deductible. KEEP ALL YOUR RECEIPTS!!! No receipt, no deduction. I just returned from a trip to the AK for knee surgery and have paid about $15,000 USD with no insurance coverage, so, I'll be reviewing the medical deductions tax laws too.

By the way, if you can do it, be sure to sock away the max amount in your pre-tax medical flex spending account at work (if you've got one). This permits pre-tax payment of medical expenses that don't meet the 7.5% limit.

I deduct my medical expenses and I just use an accountant. It costs me $160 but for me it's worth it to not have to figure out what is and is not deductable. I just give him a spreadsheet organzied by category of what the expense was and who I paid it too. The recipts aren't always clear to an accountant, so having a summary from the recipts that labels the type of expense is important. My medical expenses are like a third of my income (due to w/c not paying for anything but scripts for a couple years), so it's really worth it to me to get the max. legal deduction.

One thing I learned from him is to get prescriptions for things like home PT equipment, attendent care, etc. so that I could claim them as medical.