9 Often Overlooked Medical Deductions

Health-care costs can eat up a large portion of budgets, particularly if you've experienced a medical emergency. The one advantage is that Uncle Sam allows you to deduct medical costs that are more than 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. With a touch of tax triage, you might just reach this golden number and greatly reduce your tax burden. 

You can deduct medical expenses of everyone listed on your tax return, including dental bills. You also might be able to deduct expenses paid for a parent, even if they aren't considered your dependent for exemption purposes. You also can deduct money spent on medical bills for a deceased depending in the year they were paid, whether before or after the person passed away. 

Here are seven allowable and often overlooked medical deductions. 

1. Travel
You can legally deduct travel expenses to and from medical treatments, but the mileage rate changes each year. The deduction for 2010 is 16.5 cents per mile.

2. Uninsured Medical Treatments
This includes extra visionwear, hearing aids, false teeth and artificial limbs.

3. Addition Recovery Programs
You can include the costs of alcohol- or drug-abuse treatments on Schedule A.

4. Smoking Sensation Programs
The IRS approved stop-smoking programs as allowable deductions, adding yet another incentive to give up the cancer sticks for life.

5. Laser Surgery
Lasik and other vision-corrective surgeries are tax-allowable procedures.

6. Diet Programs Medical Necessity
Health-conscious taxpayers have a friend at the IRS. Some weight-loss programs are now considered allowable medical deductions. However, a diet program must be considered a medical necessity. Acceptable situations include when your doctor recommends a regimen to reduce the health risks of obesity or hypertension.

7. Medical Necessities
If your doctor told you to add a humidifier to your home's heating and air conditioning system to relieve your chronic asthma, the equipment may be partially or wholly deductible.

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