I got approved for medical financial assistance. Is this taxable?
March 3, 2024 5:55 PM Subscribe
Upon the encouragement of nurses when I got my immunotherapy infusions in January, I applied for, and was approved for, Kaiser's medical financial assistance program. Would whatever payments they make for my medical services be taxable (ie, me report them on my taxes) next year?
I was surprised, actually—I told the nurse I probably made too much for their financial assistance program, but she said almost all cancer patients were automatically approved, regardless of income. So, why not—I applied and surprisingly enough, got approved. All my upcoming appointments with Kaiser show as $0, and I assume the financial assistance program will pay for them without any obligation on my part during the period of the financial assistance program.
My question is pretty simple: would those payments (ie, if I have a CT scan that's normally $100, but they pay $100 for me) be taxable? As in, would I need to report those on my taxes next year?
It's called a "financial assistance award" or something along those lines. A quick Google search didn't see anything about those being taxable, but I think we all know Google isn't the same search powerhouse it used to be (more ads, etc), so I thought I'd turn to the Green and ask.
Thanks! YANML.
I was surprised, actually—I told the nurse I probably made too much for their financial assistance program, but she said almost all cancer patients were automatically approved, regardless of income. So, why not—I applied and surprisingly enough, got approved. All my upcoming appointments with Kaiser show as $0, and I assume the financial assistance program will pay for them without any obligation on my part during the period of the financial assistance program.
My question is pretty simple: would those payments (ie, if I have a CT scan that's normally $100, but they pay $100 for me) be taxable? As in, would I need to report those on my taxes next year?
It's called a "financial assistance award" or something along those lines. A quick Google search didn't see anything about those being taxable, but I think we all know Google isn't the same search powerhouse it used to be (more ads, etc), so I thought I'd turn to the Green and ask.
Thanks! YANML.
Best answer: I found a better answer at bankrate.com:
Charity care or a financial assistance program like the one that you used is health care for which patients are not billed, and there is no expectation of payment or reimbursement on the part of the patient. Because there is no liability for payment, this type of benefit received is not considered a forgiven debt. In addition, because the health care services are paid through governmental tax programs, the value of this health care is not considered income and does not need to be reported on Form 1040.
posted by metahawk at 10:12 PM on March 3 [6 favorites]
Charity care or a financial assistance program like the one that you used is health care for which patients are not billed, and there is no expectation of payment or reimbursement on the part of the patient. Because there is no liability for payment, this type of benefit received is not considered a forgiven debt. In addition, because the health care services are paid through governmental tax programs, the value of this health care is not considered income and does not need to be reported on Form 1040.
posted by metahawk at 10:12 PM on March 3 [6 favorites]
Response by poster: That helps, thanks so much metahawk!
posted by dubious_dude at 7:56 AM on March 4
posted by dubious_dude at 7:56 AM on March 4
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posted by metahawk at 6:40 PM on March 3