Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced legislation Wednesday designed to protect seniors with high health care costs from a “health tax” in 2017.
The Seniors Tax Hike Prevention Act of 2017 (S. 1977) would allow for a two-year delay in the scheduled increase of the income threshold — to 10% from the current 7.5% — after which those age 65 and older can deduct medical expenses on their tax returns.
AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins gave a thumbs up to the bill. “If this needed, bipartisan legislation does not pass soon, older taxpayers with high health costs will face a 2017 health tax hike due to a reduced medical expense deduction,” Jenkins said in a statement. “The medical expense deduction helps millions of middle-income older Americans to offset high out-of-pocket health care costs.”
AARP, she continued, “supports this temporary delay as a necessary immediate step toward permanently restoring the tax threshold to 7.5% for older Americans with high out-of-pocket health care costs.”