Healthcare spending spinoff: What percentage of your income is spent on healthcare (m)

[jerzymama]

If you feel comfortable responding:

What percentage of your gross income is spent on healthcare (including premiums) and what region of the country (or better yet, state) do you live?

Our out of pocket costs are approximately 5% and we live in NJ.

Acck! Sorry folks; I feel terrible that I did this but I kind of forgot about DH's pension and my piddly part time income. It's much closer to 2.5 - 3.0% of gross.

[Tracy]

Gah. Today is a bad day to ask me about healthcare ! *LOL*


As of Tuesday no one in my family will be covered. The kids' COBRA runs out and the insurance dude who is really going out of his way for us, considering that DH hasn't even been an employee for that company for 18 months now, to find us coverage for the kids. Well, he called us yesterday to tell us that Madison keeps being denied coverage. He says that they can't legally deny her for a pre-existing condition so they aren't saying it's because of her Tourette's but he said between him and us, it's obvious to him that that's what is happening.

One company said they could cover her at the same cost as it will be for both Miya and Joshua combined. We're going to have to put her application in Tuesday morning.

So, as of Tuesday for at least a little while, zero percent of our income for insurance, We will pay out of pocket 100% for healthcare, and if the applications are accepted for the kids then we'll be paying about 10% of our income for insurance coverage in premiums but I'm not sure about deductibles and co-pays yet. DH and I won't have coverage at all.

[Debra]

If you feel comfortable responding:

What percentage of your gross income is spent on healthcare (including premiums) and what region of the country (or better yet, state) do you live?

Our out of pocket costs are approximately 5% and we live in NJ.

We spend 6.25% of our gross income on healthcare. nt

[aleutsi]

If you feel comfortable responding:

What percentage of your gross income is spent on healthcare (including premiums) and what region of the country (or better yet, state) do you live?

Our out of pocket costs are approximately 5% and we live in NJ.

My math is not great and I'm rounding up and using general numbers.. but using the guestement total I figured in the previous thread, we spent around 20% of our income on healthcare last year. Central OK.

[jerzymama]

Not really my business Annie - but i just want to make sure you *know* - that any medical and dental expenses that are MORE than 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income (the magic number after you figure out your deductions) is also tax deductible.

Even if you didn't get receipts at the time - you can ask any place you rec'd healthcare including your doctor(s), dentist, hospital and pharmacy to printout statements for the entire year.

[aleutsi]

Not really my business Annie - but i just want to make sure you *know* - that any medical and dental expenses that are MORE than 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income (the magic number after you figure out your deductions) is also tax deductible.

Even if you didn't get receipts at the time - you can ask any place you rec'd healthcare including your doctor(s), dentist, hospital and pharmacy to printout statements for the entire year.

DH does our taxes and he said that the standard deduction ($15,000? it was some huge number) was higher than what we could itemize - including his expenses for work... and I don't know how to figure it when most of our health expenses were put on credit cards.. so technically we haven't paid it *yet*. :dunno:

I suspect and have been suspecting that we could itemize more than he thinks, but I'm not sure how to go about all of that. He buys a lot of stuff, out of pocket, for work and I keep telling him to save receipts and he says "Ok" but then forgets and then says it isn't that much, but I bet it is when you add it all up. It's frustrating and I don't like nagging, but I guess I might take this up as a chosen battle, LOL!

That's good to know about asking them to print out a yearly statement, though!

Also, it's probably a duh, but I meant to keep receipts at the beginning of the year but here it is almost April and I haven't kept any. It's never too late to start, right? :loveit:

[another shannon]

If you feel comfortable responding:

What percentage of your gross income is spent on healthcare (including premiums) and what region of the country (or better yet, state) do you live?

Our out of pocket costs are approximately 5% and we live in NJ.

Acck! Sorry folks; I feel terrible that I did this but I kind of forgot about DH's pension and my piddly part time income. It's much closer to 2.5 - 3.0% of gross.

although I do pay $10 a week for the upgraded plan ($500 deductible -vs- $2500). Co-pays are pretty cheap but rx gets a little pricey. I can never deduct since it has never exceeded 7.5% of my AGR.

Venturing a guess....I'd say probably less than $1500 per year. Knock on wood we're all healthy :smile:

[Rosemary]

DH does our taxes and he said that the standard deduction ($15,000? it was some huge number) was higher than what we could itemize - including his expenses for work... and I don't know how to figure it when most of our health expenses were put on credit cards.. so technically we haven't paid it *yet*. :dunno:

I suspect and have been suspecting that we could itemize more than he thinks, but I'm not sure how to go about all of that. He buys a lot of stuff, out of pocket, for work and I keep telling him to save receipts and he says "Ok" but then forgets and then says it isn't that much, but I bet it is when you add it all up. It's frustrating and I don't like nagging, but I guess I might take this up as a chosen battle, LOL!

That's good to know about asking them to print out a yearly statement, though!


Also, it's probably a duh, but I meant to keep receipts at the beginning of the year but here it is almost April and I haven't kept any. It's never too late to start, right? :loveit:


If he is purchasing equip/tools for work, he can itemize that as unreimbursed employee business expenses. Is any of his income self employed? Because if it is, there are most definately deductions there.

Also, mortgage interest and real estate taxes, plus and state income/local taxes you may pay on his income.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be imposing here, but if you are paying that high a % on medical expenses, plus owning a house, it seems like you should be able to itemize, and the accountant in me just cringes to think that you may be missing out on that.

Hope I'm not overstepping...

[Kathy]

We spend about 15% of our gross income on health care and live near Portland, Oregon. This is actually the lowest percentage we've had since Ryan was born - it has been up to 30% of our gross income in the past. Medical expenses have been the thing that really buries us financially each year.

It's really frustrating, since there's not a whole lot we can do to make the cost go down. We have changed medications to cheaper options (Dan was taking one that cost $130 a month and now that's down to $45), have forgone testing and treatments that are too expensive (we chose not to have the MRI for Ryan that his urologist recommended, since it wouldn't really change treatment options), put off medical expenses when we can until after deductibles are met (Arden had an endoscopy and frenulum clip after his appendix surgery so we didn't have to pay for either), and generally try to stay as healthy as we can. But we keep getting hit with things and what can you do? Honestly, the first thing I thought when I was in such severe pain with the obstruction was that I couldn't go to the hospital since we didn't have $2000 to pay for it. And I'll admit that part of why I want to become a nurse is better health benefits so we can get out of being so scared about medical costs.

[aleutsi]

If he is purchasing equip/tools for work, he can itemize that as unreimbursed employee business expenses. Is any of his income self employed? Because if it is, there are most definately deductions there.

Also, mortgage interest and real estate taxes, plus and state income/local taxes you may pay on his income.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be imposing here, but if you are paying that high a % on medical expenses, plus owning a house, it seems like you should be able to itemize, and the accountant in me just cringes to think that you may be missing out on that.

Hope I'm not overstepping...


No, not at all! So far none of his work is self employed. He's just responsible for his own tools on the job. Also, last year was a freak year for med expenses, we don't expect to pay that much this year. I've always wondered about using an accountant, but DH says that we'll probably spend more on the accountant than what we would save in return. I think I've almost got him talked into it, though, especially if he starts contracting (self employed) this year.

Our problem is we are coming out of very low income - we used to not pay any tax, so itemizing made no sense, yk? We are not used to heavy tax stuff as we've never really payed it - or if we did we didn't pay much. I don't know what income is the magic income where itemizing would help - he used an online program this year and tried the itemized thing with that, but all that we entered in (not the medical stuff - he says it doesn't count because most is on credit cards and we haven't actually paid most of it yet) didn't amount to the standard deduction. This year we expect to make a fairly big jump up in income, for us anyway, so maybe next year he'll be ready for help.

I really do appreciate the advice! I miss my grandma, she did taxes for a living and used to do all the family's taxes.. of course that's not the only reason I miss her.

Do you have advice on where to read up on what to save for next year's write offs?

[BlueMama]

Our premiums are about 10% (maybe 1 or 2% more, I'm just guessing) of dh's income. His company pays nothing of the premiums. I don't even want to look at what was spent on additional medical expenses last year; it's too depressing.

I'm in Texas, but not sure if it matters - dh's company is International and the US headquarters is in NJ.

[mirage1]

... and I don't know how to figure it when most of our health expenses were put on credit cards.. so technically we haven't paid it *yet*. :dunno:It doesn't matter, you paid for it whether you still owe on the cards or not. You paid a medical expense, you paid by incurring debt but you still paid it.

If you think about it the way he is, then on 2008's taxes, he'd be trying to say that $15,000 (or whatever it was that you put on cards for 2007) that was paid to credit cards was for medical expenses, and that wouldn't fly at all.

[Rosemary]

No, not at all! So far none of his work is self employed. He's just responsible for his own tools on the job. Also, last year was a freak year for med expenses, we don't expect to pay that much this year. I've always wondered about using an accountant, but DH says that we'll probably spend more on the accountant than what we would save in return. I think I've almost got him talked into it, though, especially if he starts contracting (self employed) this year.

Our problem is we are coming out of very low income - we used to not pay any tax, so itemizing made no sense, yk? We are not used to heavy tax stuff as we've never really payed it - or if we did we didn't pay much. I don't know what income is the magic income where itemizing would help - he used an online program this year and tried the itemized thing with that, but all that we entered in (not the medical stuff - he says it doesn't count because most is on credit cards and we haven't actually paid most of it yet) didn't amount to the standard deduction. This year we expect to make a fairly big jump up in income, for us anyway, so maybe next year he'll be ready for help.

I really do appreciate the advice! I miss my grandma, she did taxes for a living and used to do all the family's taxes.. of course that's not the only reason I miss her.

Do you have advice on where to read up on what to save for next year's write offs?


First off, just because it's on a credit card, and the bill isn't yet paid, it is still technically paid, so provided it is a deduction to take, it is a legal deduction for tax purposes. As far as the hospital, doctor, dentist etc. is concerned, the bill is paid when you use a credit card.

I would just be careful to save all receipts of medical expenses (with invoices) regardless of how it is being paid. The same with any work expenses your DH incurs that is not reimbursed by his employer. If he goes into contracting for himself, keep a seperate file for those receipts and have him keep a good record of miliage - even if at the end of every week or day or seperate job, he writes an estimate of his driving time during that period and throw that in a file also.

As long as you save the stuff, it doesn't even have to be super organized, just have 3 or 4 manilla folders and use one for medical, one for employee expenses, one for self employed and another one for misc stuff that you might not be sure of. It seems easier to sort through if it's all in one place. Most tax software packages are sufficient, but if you don't know to put the data in, it won't necessarily tell you. It does ask questions so it should help trigger you to put info in. Definately put in the medical expenses. Real estate/school taxes. HOme mortgage interest. Charitable expenses (church etc.) If it's not enough the software will tell you but at that point you will have an idea of where you are, and not feel like you are missing something.