medical dedcutions

[Binky]

My chronically ill client now lives in his personal care attendant's home.  My client pays a flat fee a month that includes all personal care expenses plus moneys that go toward utility bills (pro rata) for the home.  Can I consider those utility bills as a medical expense, since he's living at the home only for the constant medical care?

[Terry53029]

This is from pub 501:

Qualified Long-Term Care Services

Qualified long-term care services are necessary diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, curing, treating, mitigating, rehabilitative services, and maintenance and personal care services (defined later) that are:

1. Required by a chronically ill individual, and

2. Provided pursuant to a plan of care prescribed by a licensed health care practitioner.

Chronically ill individual.

 

An individual is chronically ill if, within the previous 12 months, a licensed health care practitioner has certified that the individual meets either of the following descriptions.

1. He or she is unable to perform at least two activities of daily living without substantial assistance from another individual for at least 90 days, due to a loss of functional capacity. Activities of daily living are eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing, and continence.

2. He or she requires substantial supervision to be protected from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment

[Binky]

I know the definitions.  Here's my issue.  If a personal care person lives in the patient's home the expenses for the personal care person are a deductible medical expense, including food and lodging.  In this case the situation is reversed.  The patient lives in the personal care person's home.  I'm trying to find out if food and lodging can be deducted as medical expenses, using the same logic.  Thanks.

[Terry53029]

Why do you think where the person lives has anything to do with the expenses being deductible ?

What if your client lived in a assisted living facility, they would be deductible. 

[michele]

Even in an assisted living facility you could only deduct expenses on the billing that shows as a medical expense. You would not be able to deduct rent or food. Now a nursing home is a whole different ballgame. As far as deductible. I don’t think you are going to get by with trying to take those things as a deduction.is this person a licensed provider. Will they be billing the client and reporting what they received.

[Terry53029 · Accepted solution]

 if the resident is chronically ill and in the facility primarily for medical care and the care is being performed according to a certified care plan, then the room and board may be considered part of the medical care and the cost may be deductible, just as it would be in a hospital.