Elective Surgery Tax Deduction Information

Can You Get an Elective Surgery Tax Deduction?

Here is more information about the elective surgery tax deduction.

Long waiting times for medical care are a major health policy problem for many OECD countries (Siciliani et al., 2013), but less important in others (Germany, Belgium, Korea, United States, France, Japan, Luxembourg, Switzerland). Prolonged delays for elective (non-urgent) surgery, such as cataract surgery, hip or knee replacement surgery, are causing patient dissatisfaction as the expected benefits of treatment are postponed and pain and discomfort persist.

These delays are the result of a complex interaction between the demand and supply of health services, and doctors play a key role in both. The demand for health services and elective surgery is determined by the state of health of the population, the evolution of medical technologies (including the simplification of many procedures, such as cataract surgery), patient preferences and the proportion of patient’s fees.

Doctors play a central role in translating patients’ desire to improve their health into a demand for medical care. On the supply side, the availability of different categories of surgeons, anesthetists or other health personnel involved in surgical procedures, as well as the existence of the necessary medical equipment, influence the rates of surgical activity.

The indicator used here is the period of time between when a specialist adds a patient to the waiting list for an intervention and when it occurs. The graphs show the average and average times. As some patients wait a long time, the median time is constant and significantly less than the average time, and can be a more reliable measure of the central tendency of the indicator. The substantial gap between the two measures, especially in countries such as Chile, Estonia and Poland, highlights the existence of problem patient groups that wait significantly longer than others to receive treatment.

Elective Surgery Taxes

Elective surgeries have become the most widely used measures to reduce waiting times in many countries. This is the case in Finland, where the introduction of a national system of care guarantee in 2005 resulted in a reduction of waiting times for elective surgery.

In England, since April 2010, the statutes of the NHS establish the right of access to certain services within a specified maximum period, or authorize the NHS to take all necessary measures to propose a list of alternative providers if this is not possible. (Smith and Sutton, 2013).

These tax deduction guarantees are only effective if they apply in your country with your health insurance and they must relate to improving a health condition, disease or bodily disorder. If it is only for an appearance like cosmetic surgery then it will not be tax-deductible. Speak with a tax expert before you write-off any elective surgery costs.