Can I Deduct Menopause Medical Costs from My Taxes?
Menopause isn’t just physically expensive. It’s financially expensive. By the time you add up specialist visits, hormone therapy, sleep studies, cooling devices, upgraded bedding, and the parade of supplements that promised “brain clarity,” it often feels like you’re paying a premium simply to remain functional.
But here’s the turn most women never expect:
Those medical costs—yes, the same ones that make you roll your eyes at the pharmacy counter—can actually become part of a highly strategic, extremely effective, tax-saving move.
And if you’re in a lower-income year because menopause forced a scale-back?
The timing may be better than you think.
Let’s break down the opportunity hiding inside the chaos.
WHEN YOUR MEDICAL BILLS PILE UP
Menopause symptoms last an average of seven years, and for roughly 20–30% of women, they last even longer. That’s seven years of:
Specialist appointments
Hormone therapy prescriptions
Sleep evaluations
Compounded medications
Therapy for mood changes
Cooling systems for sleep
Clothing and devices to manage daily symptoms
Depending on your insurance coverage, many women easily spend $5,000–$12,000+ per year.
Most years, these expenses feel like money disappearing into a medical black hole.
But in certain years—especially the years menopause forces you to reduce hours or take a pause—those costs become powerful tax tools.
HOW HIGH MEDICAL EXPENSES CAN REDUCE YOUR TAXES
The IRS allows you to deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). For many women in lower-income years, reaching that threshold becomes surprisingly easy.
Here’s the math:
If your AGI is $80,000, your medical deduction threshold is $6,000.
Spend $12,000 on qualified medical costs?
You now have $6,000 of deductible expenses.
And this is where the real opportunity begins.
YOUR THREE STRATEGIC CONVERSION MOVES
1. Calculate Your Medical Expense Threshold
Start with your AGI. Multiply it by 7.5%. Anything above that amount becomes deductible.
And remember: “medical expenses” are broader than most people realize. You can include:
Hormone therapy
Specialist copays
Sleep studies
Mental health care
Cooling vests and devices
Medical equipment
Travel for medical care
Mileage (21 cents per mile)
Hotel stays for out-of-town medical visits
Keep every receipt—even the parking slips.
You need documentation because the next step turns these expenses into financial leverage.
2. Time Your Roth Conversion for Lower-Income Years
This is where the strategy becomes powerful.
A Roth conversion creates taxable income.
But if your medical deductions are high enough, those deductions can offset that taxable income—sometimes completely.
Using the earlier example:
AGI: $80,000
Medical expenses: $12,000
Deduction: $6,000
You can convert up to $6,000 from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and owe zero tax on the conversion.
Your money moves to a tax-free account.
It grows tax-free.
You withdraw it tax-free later.
Your heirs receive it tax-free.
And yes—your menopause medical bills helped you do it.
3. Spread Conversions Over Multiple Lower-Income Years
Since menopause often affects work for several years, you can repeat this approach strategically.
Instead of converting a large sum in one year and risking a higher tax bracket, spread conversions across multiple years:
Convert $10,000 this year
Convert $12,000 next year
Convert $15,000 the year after
This keeps your tax bracket low while steadily building a tax-free retirement buffer.
Women who do this during their menopause transition often end up saving tens of thousands in future taxes—and dramatically improving their retirement flexibility.
THE BOTTOM LINE
You didn’t choose these medical expenses.
You didn’t ask for night sweats, brain fog, joint pain, or the cooling vest that’s the only reason you survived August.
But if you’re going to spend the money anyway, you can absolutely make it work for your future.
High medical expenses + lower earnings = prime time for strategic Roth conversions.
This window doesn’t stay open forever.
Use it while you have it.
If this helped clarify a strategy you’ve never heard before, share with a woman facing menopause medical costs. She deserves this knowledge too.
Dr. Derezil, this is such an important—and overlooked—conversation.
For so many women, especially during the menopause transition, healthcare spending feels like money leaking out of a bucket with no bottom.
In functional medicine, we teach women to pay attention to inflection points—the years or moments when your choices compound. Perimenopause and menopause are that inflection point. Your body is changing. Your capacity may be changing. And often, your income is temporarily changing too.
That means the tax code suddenly meets the biology.
And believe it or not, the tax code has built-in benefits for women in seasons where medical costs are high and income is low.
Your example illustrates this perfectly:
If your AGI is $80,000, your medical deduction threshold is $6,000.
Spend $12,000 on medically qualified expenses?
You now have $6,000 of deductible spend.
This is where the real opportunity begins—because “medical expenses” are far broader than most women realize. The list you provided is exactly right!
These aren’t “extras.” These are the real costs of managing a real physiologic transition.
From a functional medicine perspective, here’s the bigger reframe:
Menopause is not a pathology—it’s a metabolic pivot.
But it’s a pivot that requires data, support, and sometimes significant upfront investment in your wellbeing.
This framework you’re teaching gives women something many have never had:
Permission to invest in their health with the confidence that it is not only medically necessary, but financially strategic!
Thank you for giving women a framework that honors both the physiology and the finances!!