Can adventure travel medical insurance premiums be claimed as medical expenses on taxes?
I'm trying to figure out if I can deduct some travel insurance as a medical expense on my taxes. I itemize and have already hit the 7.5% of AGI threshold for medical expenses this year. Last month, I went on a pretty extreme whitewater rafting trip in Alaska where cell service doesn't exist and the nearest hospital was like 200+ miles away. My regular health insurance has basically no coverage there, so I bought a special travel medical policy that covered emergency evacuation, medical treatment, and even body transport if things went really wrong (morbid, I know). The policy wasn't cheap - about $430 for the two-week trip. Since it primarily covered medical evacuation costs and emergency treatment in a region where my normal insurance is useless, I'm wondering if this counts as a legitimate medical expense I can add to my itemized deductions for the 2024 tax year? Has anyone dealt with this before? Thanks for any insights!
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Ava Hernandez
Yes, you can likely deduct a portion of your adventure travel insurance premium as a medical expense. According to IRS Publication 502, insurance premiums that cover medical care qualify as deductible medical expenses. However, you can only deduct the part of the premium that's specifically for medical care coverage. For your situation, you'll need to contact the insurance company and ask them to provide a breakdown showing what portion of your $430 premium was for medical evacuation and emergency medical treatment versus other coverage like trip cancellation or lost baggage. Only the medical portion counts toward your medical expense deduction. Make sure you keep documentation from the insurance company specifying the medical portion of the premium. This will be important if you're ever audited. Since you've already exceeded the 7.5% AGI threshold, whatever medical portion you can document will directly increase your deduction.
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Isabella Martin
•Thanks for the info! But how exactly do I get this breakdown from the insurance company? Do they typically provide this automatically or do I need to specifically request it? And should I be getting this in writing before filing?
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Ava Hernandez
•Insurance companies don't typically provide the breakdown automatically, so you'll need to contact their customer service department and specifically request documentation showing what portion of your premium was for medical coverage versus other benefits. Ask for this in writing (email is fine) and save it with your tax records. I'd recommend calling the insurance company directly and explaining that you need this information for tax purposes. Most companies have dealt with this request before and have a process for it. Some may even have a standardized form they can provide showing the allocation of premium dollars across different coverage types.
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Elijah Jackson
I went through something similar last year with an adventure trek in the Himalayas where my regular insurance wouldn't cover me. After spending hours researching, I found this awesome service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that analyzed my travel insurance policy and actually helped identify which portions were deductible as medical expenses! I just uploaded my policy document and they quickly highlighted the medical evacuation and emergency treatment components that qualified as deductible medical expenses. They even provided documentation I could use if audited that showed exactly how much of the premium went to medical coverage versus things like trip cancellation or lost luggage. Made the whole process so much smoother than trying to get the breakdown from my insurance company, who kept transferring me between departments.
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Sophia Miller
•That sounds pretty useful! How accurate were they with identifying the medical portions? Did the IRS accept their breakdown when you filed or did you have any issues?
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Mason Davis
•Kinda skeptical about these online services tbh... wouldn't the insurance company's own breakdown be more official than what some website says? Not trying to be rude, just wondering if the IRS would actually accept that.
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Elijah Jackson
•They were surprisingly accurate - they use some kind of AI that's trained on insurance policies to identify the medical components. The documentation they provided included specific references to IRS publications that support why each component qualified. I filed with their breakdown and had no issues with my return. As for using the insurance company's breakdown versus theirs, the advantage is that the insurance companies often don't provide this level of detail willingly. My insurance company just gave me a vague percentage with no explanation. Taxr.ai gave me a detailed report breaking down exactly which policy provisions counted as medical and why, with citations to tax code. Definitely more thorough than what the insurance company provided.
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Mason Davis
Just wanted to follow up - I was the skeptical one who questioned whether taxr.ai would be better than going directly to the insurance company. Well, I gave it a try with my own travel medical policy from my Antarctica trip last year and I'm actually pretty impressed! The insurance company was totally unhelpful when I called - just kept saying they "don't provide tax advice" and wouldn't give me any breakdown. But when I uploaded my policy to taxr.ai, they identified that 68% of my premium was for qualifying medical coverage and gave me a detailed report showing exactly which parts qualified and why. They even included citations to specific IRS rulings about emergency medical evacuation coverage. Saved me a ton of hassle and I was able to claim an additional $385 in medical expenses!
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Mia Rodriguez
If you're planning to deduct part of your adventure travel insurance, I'd strongly recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to speak directly with an IRS agent about your specific situation. I tried calling the IRS directly about a similar medical expense deduction question last tax season and kept hitting the dreaded "call volumes are too high" message for weeks. With Claimyr, I got a callback from an actual IRS representative in under 45 minutes! You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent I spoke with confirmed that medical evacuation insurance for remote travel can indeed be deductible as a medical expense when your primary insurance doesn't provide coverage in that area. She even pointed me to the specific section in Publication 502 that covers this. Saved me from potentially claiming something incorrectly on my taxes.
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Jacob Lewis
•Wait, how does this actually work? I thought it was impossible to get through to the IRS these days. Is this like a paid service that somehow jumps the queue?
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Amelia Martinez
•This sounds like BS honestly. No way there's some magic service that gets the IRS on the phone when millions of people can't get through. If it actually works, they're probably doing something shady that could get you in trouble with the IRS later.
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Mia Rodriguez
•It works by using automated technology that navigates the IRS phone system and waits on hold for you. When an agent picks up, you get a call connecting you to them. It's completely legitimate - they're not doing anything you couldn't do yourself if you had hours to wait on hold. This isn't jumping the queue or doing anything improper. Think of it like having someone physically wait in line for you. The service just does the waiting part automatically, and then you handle the actual conversation with the IRS agent yourself. They're basically solving the "I don't have 3 hours to sit on hold" problem that prevents most people from getting help directly from the IRS.
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Amelia Martinez
I need to eat crow here. After being super skeptical about Claimyr in my earlier comment, I decided to try it as a last resort because I'd been trying to reach the IRS for literally 3 weeks about some medical deductions on my 2023 return. Holy crap it actually works! Got a call back from an IRS agent in about 35 minutes after I submitted my request. The agent confirmed that for adventure travel medical insurance, I can deduct the portion covering medical evacuation and emergency treatment, but not the parts covering trip cancellation or lost baggage. She even emailed me a reference letter clarifying the policy that I can keep with my tax records. Total game-changer after weeks of frustration trying to get a straight answer. Sometimes I hate being wrong but in this case I'm glad I was!
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Ethan Clark
Another thing to consider with adventure travel medical insurance - if your regular health insurance plan is a high-deductible health plan with an HSA, you might want to pay for the travel medical insurance using your HSA funds directly. This is often cleaner than trying to deduct it as an itemized expense, especially if you're close to the standard deduction threshold. I did this last year for a diving trip in Indonesia where my regular insurance had no coverage. Used my HSA card to pay for the specialized diving medical insurance that included hyperbaric chamber coverage and evacuation. My HSA administrator confirmed this was a qualified medical expense.
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Noah Lee
•This is interesting! I do have an HSA actually. Would I still need to get that breakdown of what portion is strictly medical, or can the entire travel medical insurance premium be paid from the HSA if it includes some non-medical components?
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Ethan Clark
•You would still need the breakdown showing what portion is strictly medical. HSA funds can only be used for qualified medical expenses, so the same rules apply - only the medical evacuation and emergency treatment portions would qualify, not things like trip cancellation or baggage loss coverage. I recommend contacting your HSA administrator first before purchasing. Some are more strict than others about documentation requirements. Mine required a letter from the insurance company stating what percentage of the premium was for qualified medical expenses. Once I had that, I was able to use my HSA card for just that percentage of the premium amount.
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Mila Walker
Has anyone had the IRS question this deduction during an audit? I'm planning a remote hiking trip next year and will need similar insurance, but I'm worried about raising red flags.
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Logan Scott
•I got audited in 2022 and had deducted adventure travel medical insurance for a mountaineering expedition. The IRS actually didn't question it at all because I had proper documentation from the insurance company specifying the medical portion of the coverage. They were much more interested in my home office deduction lol.
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Mila Walker
•That's really helpful to know, thanks! Guess I'll focus on getting good documentation from the insurance company. Funny they went after the home office instead - those always seem to trigger scrutiny.
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