You may deduct medical and dental expenses for you, your spouse and dependents, if you itemize deductions. Medical expenses can include the cost of transportation for medical care and the cost of health insurance premiums you yourself pay. You cannot deduct medical and dental expenses that were paid by your insurance.

Medical expenses can include payments you made for:

• artificial limbs, eyeglasses, hearing aids;
• the part of the cost of braille books and magazines that is more than the price of regular printed editions;
• the cost and repair of special telephone equipment for deaf and hard of hearing persons;
• equipment for receiving closed captioning;
• the cost and care of a guide dog or other assistance animal;
• a therapist who gives "patterning" exercises to a mentally retarded child;
• special schools, if the main reason for using a school is its resources for relieving a mental or physical disability;
• accessibility modifications to your home that do not increase its value if the main purpose is medical care.

You can deduct only that part of your medical and dental expense that is more than 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. This deduction does not apply if you do not itemize deductions, but instead use the standard deduction. Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses, contains more detailed information, follow this link, www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p502.pdf.