# Did Ronald Reagan put medicine into the hands of the Insurance companies?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-ronald-reagan-put-medicine-into-the-hands-of-the-insurance-companies/212105>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 8, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-ronald-reagan-put-medicine-into-the-hands-of-the-insurance-companies/212105 "2003-11-08T20:13:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/5f8ce5/32.png) [@zipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zipper)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-ronald-reagan-put-medicine-into-the-hands-of-the-insurance-companies/212105/1 "2003-11-08T20:13:52Z")

</div>

Did Ronald Reagan put medicine into the hands of the Insurance companies?  
I remember before Reagan became president that I could take 100% of all medical expenses off on my taxes. Now I have to have medical insurance and so do a lot of other people.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-ronald-reagan-put-medicine-into-the-hands-of-the-insurance-companies/212105/2 "2003-11-08T20:28:52Z")

</div>

From [here](http://www.taxhistoryfoundation.com/form%201040.html):

> [@](#):
>
> In 1974 unreimbursed medical expenses in excess of 3% of adjusted gross income were allowed as an itemized deduction. On the 2001 Schedule A, unreimbursed medical expenses must exceed 7 ½% of adjusted gross income before an itemized deduction is allowed.

A [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itemized_deduction) summary of what can currently be deducted:

> [@](#):
>
> Medical expenses, to the extent that the expenses exceed 7.5% of the taxpayer’s AGI. (e.g., a taxpayer with an AGI of $20,000 and medical expenses of $5,000 would be eligible to deduct $3500 of their medical expenses ( 20,000 X .075 = 1500; 5000 - 1500 = 3500 ).) The 7.5% floor means that most taxpayers are unable to take advantage of the medical expense deduction.

I don’t know when the changes occured, or if they occured all at once. There was some major tax revision in the mid-'80s. I was a taxpayer in the '70s and _I_ couldn’t deduct 100% of medical expenses.