Can Anyone Tell Me About Med Expenses & Taxes?

[Lainey]

Someone posted about being able to claim medical expenses related to celiac (food expense).

Can anyone tell me how much we needed to spend?

Also my Lainey (2yr old) had her scope on Wed last week and we should have the results today. The Dr said if there was no damage that we could still give her a normal diet. However her celiac panel blood test says +. Shouldnt I go gluten-free either way since the blood test was +? Just because the damage hasnt been detected yet- doesnt mean that it wont in the near future? My daughters pediatrician suggested go gluten free either way because she wasnt gaining weight fast enough. The GI Dr says feed her what she likes. This is all so confusing!! We have started the gluten free diet but we arent 100% yet. I am finding it difficult to find anything she likes. Is it ok to transition into this new diet? For the most part she eats breakfast gluten free and most lunch...its is dinner that she wont eat. Last night she had cereal for dinner cause she refused the gluten free chicken nuggets and mac n cheese. I dont want her to lose weight.

Any other suggestions would be great.

Thanks and I hope this post finds everyone well. We have had the flu around my house. YUCK!

Julie

[lovegrov]

Please remember that I am not a tax expert or attorney.

I'm assuming you're in the U.S. As far as I know, the IRS has never officially ruled on the tax status of gluten-free food. During my 6 years of reading gluten-free forums, I've seen people who say they have successfully claimed it and others who won't try. Some people have had tax experts tell them it's not deductible and others have heard the opposite.

IF you try to claim it (please remember I am not weighing as to whether you can; I am not qualified to give tax advice), I DO know this:

1) You can claim just the difference between the gluten-free item and a regular item. So if regular bread is $1.99 a loaf and gluten-free bread is $4.99, you can claim $3.

2) You claim it as a medical expense, which means before you can deduct anything at all, your medical expenses must exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, and you can deduct only the part that is more than 7.5 percent.

richard

[kbtoyssni]

I would absolutely go gluten-free. And be thankful that the scope came back negative - it means she hasn't had enough time to completely destroy her villi!

If you have a health savings account through your health insurance, you can also use that to cover some of the costs of gluten-free food. The first point lovegrov made about only being able to claim the difference in price will apply. You may also have to "prove" she has celiac. This may be difficult based on what you said about your doctor.

I do not buy many gluten-free substitutes. I do 99% of my shopping at a normal grocery store, buying normal things that everyone else does. Once you figure out your brands and get creative and think about what you eat differently than you do now, you may find that your grocery bills decrease. I don't bother with this because I don't spend enough on gluten-free foods to make it worth my time.

[Crishelle]

The only way gluten-free diet really works is to go completely....Even if you give her gluten and she shows no signs, she could still have an increase in inflammation, setting the stage for diseases later in life. What foods is she missing? Maybe I can help with brands that taste good and recipes...some brands just taste awful... Also, are you feeding her the gluten-free counterpart of what you are eating? That could be a problem, too. You may have to eat the same food temporarily...Some children will not eat something different, but will want what their parents have...

[ShayBraMom]

Well, she already had her scope, if she imprioves on teh diet you should go glutenfree! She might be not celiac but still Glutensensitive, which causess the same issues as Cleiac, though no damage to the intestine. It can however if she stays on gluten and she's sensitive to it turn into Celaic desease down the road. eitherway, specvially since her bloodtest came back positive! Often it would help if you switch the whole family to glutenfree for starterts, that way she gets to eat what you guys eat, refusal is less likely because she won't know that she's eating special or different! Children that age want to be like everybody else and NOT different!

Since you are new to all of this I highly recommend the book written by Diana Korn "Glutenfree for Dummies" book! It comes in the typical ...........for Dummies colors, meaning in Yellow and black. I'm sure you've seen those ..... for dummies books before! She herself has Celiac desease and has been living gluten free since 91. she's been trhough trial and Error like all of us and writes humoresly aobut it! she taps in to every aspect from how to get diagnosed, what you need what questions to aks, to explaining Celiacs to how ot talk to people aobut it, to recepies , to even Taxes which you had questions aobut it, she explains it very thorougly on how to do it, when it applies and so on. there is not a single thing not tapped in to in that book aobut cveliacs, after that no questions are left! go get it, you'll find it a huge help, I know it helps me already tons since it also points out gluten-traps, I never knew Teryaky or Soy-Soss are gluten traps, or that most candycanes are rolled in Flour before pakcing, making it a glutentrap which I actually tapped right into just recently right before I got to that spot in the book *sniff* It will be a huge help to you, I guarantee it! and as I said, it tells you aobut testing and aobut taxes! all is easy to read, and in clean chapters and even there broken down, as she mentiones in her book - she made it that way so you can start whereever you like in the book without having to read from start to finish first, it's awesome!

good luck!

Someone posted about being able to claim medical expenses related to celiac (food expense).

Can anyone tell me how much we needed to spend?

Also my Lainey (2yr old) had her scope on Wed last week and we should have the results today. The Dr said if there was no damage that we could still give her a normal diet. However her celiac panel blood test says +. Shouldnt I go gluten-free either way since the blood test was +? Just because the damage hasnt been detected yet- doesnt mean that it wont in the near future? My daughters pediatrician suggested go gluten free either way because she wasnt gaining weight fast enough. The GI Dr says feed her what she likes. This is all so confusing!! We have started the gluten free diet but we arent 100% yet. I am finding it difficult to find anything she likes. Is it ok to transition into this new diet? For the most part she eats breakfast gluten free and most lunch...its is dinner that she wont eat. Last night she had cereal for dinner cause she refused the gluten free chicken nuggets and mac n cheese. I dont want her to lose weight.

Any other suggestions would be great.

Thanks and I hope this post finds everyone well. We have had the flu around my house. YUCK!

Julie

[ShayBraMom]

does she like bananas? You could make her milkshakes from them, they havelots of Calories, tons of vitamins and enzymes she needs to repair her gut and they fill! Give her as many of those as she likes. also there are those Drinks like Ensure and stuff, that have everything in it pl;us extras Calories, I do believe they are glutenfree. Check with the manufacturer! bobs mill hasa superyummie Browniemix. If you are military the Commisary could have it. Mine acutally has it and it;s only 3.40$ or so per pack, a real good price! You can load her mashed Potatoes with cheese and whipcream, tastes superyummie and gives her calories as well. the glutenfree noodles most of them are really good , just like the real thing and you can make those with real cheese for all of you guys! I like to take noodles that are a day old and dripped well! I fry some onions in a bit oil (you can skip them if you guuys don't like them) and also fry ham (commercial one is apparetnly since Nov. 07 glutenfreee) with it, then put the noodles on top of all of that, spice it and then put cheese over it and let it sit on medium, stirring occacionally. that way you get little cheesy golden crusts under the noodles as well if you like those. You server fresh cucumbersalad in a Balsamico-oil dressing to it!

[Ian's mom]

First I am VERY new to Celiac - but my research has been that it if your helth insurance offers to defer some of your costs - that is the better way to go - we have Horizon Blue Cross and according to my plan as long as the doctor writes a note saying the food is medically nescesary we can get some of the money back. My mother in law does our taxes so I called her immediatly and she told me according to our salaries that we would have to have $7500.00 in expenses to be able to claim anything.

Lisa