Medical Expense Deduction Should Be Maintained, Lawmakers Say

Congressman MacArthur's Leads Letter Urging Congress to Restore the Medical Expense Deduction

December 13, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman MacArthur urged House and Senate Leadership to restore the medical expense deduction in the tax reform legislation on behalf of the over 140,000 seniors who live in New Jersey's Third Congressional District.

“For months, I've negotiated to improve this bill for my constituents and was able to successfully restore the property tax deduction — but my fight is not over,” said Congressman Tom MacArthur. “I'm urging House and Senate Leadership to restore the medical expense deduction that will benefit over 140,000 seniors in my district and other constituents with high medical bills. This deduction can represent a meaningful source of relief during the uncertainty and difficulty that medical conditions can bring, and should be restored.”

Full text of the letter:

Dear Speaker Ryan, Leader McConnell, Chairman Brady, and Chairman Hatch:

As you work to finalize and pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we urge you to maintain the deductibility of medical expenses.

The House version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act achieves many worthy goals, including eliminating a myriad of special interest loopholes. Each of us supported it. Both the House and the Senate retain some credits and deductions that foster critical, broad-based public policy objectives, such as supporting families, home ownership and charities. We urge you to maintain the Medical Expense Deduction in this same spirit, as the Senate version has already done.

Nine million American households claim the Medical Expense Deduction, and for these families, this deduction can represent a meaningful source of relief during the uncertainty and difficulty that medical conditions can bring. Some of the unfortunate outcomes of Obamacare have been higher medical costs, higher insurance premiums, higher deductibles, higher copays — these costs hit families hard, especially seniors. On behalf of our constituents, who badly need the tax relief that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will provide, and especially on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of senior citizens who live in the districts we represent, we urge you to maintain the Medical Expense Deduction, and to send us a final version swiftly so we can deliver the relief we promised the American people.

Congressman MacArthur was joined by Congressman David Joyce and Congressman Rod Blum in this request.