Roughly 12% of adults within the U.S. take a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic, Mounjaro, Zepbound, or Wegovy, based on the 2025 KFF Well being Monitoring ballot. However these blockbuster medicine can value greater than $1,000 per thirty days for sufferers who pay out of pocket. Even with insurance coverage, the month-to-month prices can exceed a number of hundred {dollars}.
You might be able to deduct GLP-1s as a medical expense out of your taxes, relying on why the medicine had been prescribed. However doing so might not truly scale back your tax invoice. Right here’s why.
Learn extra: Is medical health insurance tax deductible? Right here’s what you possibly can declare.
Unreimbursed medical bills you incur for your self, your partner, and your dependents are sometimes tax deductible, however a number of caveats apply. Listed below are the foundations.
You may’t take the usual deduction
You may solely deduct medical bills in case you itemize versus claiming the usual deduction. Itemizing will solely prevent cash in case your deductions add as much as greater than the usual deduction in your tax submitting standing. The usual deduction is $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married joint filers in 2025 (applies to returns due April 15, 2026). These quantities rise to $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for married joint filers in 2026 (applies to returns due April 15, 2027).
The medical expense deduction solely applies to reimbursed prices above 7.5% of your adjusted gross earnings, or AGI. In different phrases, in case your earnings is $100,000 and also you had $12,000 in medical payments for the yr (excluding medical health insurance premiums), you would solely deduct $4,500 in well being bills.
Healthcare prices are solely tax deductible in the event that they’re what the Inner Income Service (IRS) calls certified medical bills. Which means a licensed clinician prescribes them for the “prognosis, treatment, mitigation, remedy, or prevention” of a illness. As we’ll focus on within the subsequent part, GLP-1 drugs can typically fall right into a grey space on this entrance.
Learn extra: Customary deduction vs. itemized: Tips on how to resolve which tax submitting strategy is true
The IRS will usually take into account GLP-1 drugs a certified medical expense that’s tax deductible if each of the next {qualifications} are true:
A health care provider or one other medical supplier diagnoses you with a illness, AND
A GLP-1 treatment like Wegovy or Ozempic is prescribed to deal with that illness.
In case your doctor prescribed a GLP-1 since you’ve been recognized with sort 2 diabetes, that’s a fairly clear-cut instance of when you possibly can deduct your unreimbursed prices — so long as you itemize and also you’re deducting bills above 7.5% of your AGI.
Likewise, in case your practitioner recognized you as overweight and prescribed a GLP-1 that can assist you reduce weight, you would deduct the fee as a result of the IRS accepts weight problems as a continual medical situation. You might also be capable of deduct the expense in case your physician recognized you with one other illness and prescribed a GLP-1 as a part of a weight-loss program geared toward treating it. For instance, if a practitioner recognized you with hypertension and prescribed a GLP-1 that can assist you reduce weight and decrease your blood stress.
Medicines prescribed merely for weight reduction aren’t tax deductible. In case your physician prescribed a drugs as a result of they advocate shedding kilos to enhance your total well being, the expense isn’t tax deductible.
Weight-loss medicine prescribed via telehealth corporations and stuffed by compounding pharmacies might fall into this grey space. Many provide GLP-1 prescriptions via a web-based session the place a licensed clinician evaluations your self-reported peak, weight, medical historical past, and well being objectives. The prescriber determines if the drug is medically applicable, however they normally aren’t diagnosing you. Your prices sometimes wouldn’t be tax deductible on this scenario since you didn’t incur them for illness remedy.
Learn extra: Tax credit score vs. tax deduction: Which is healthier?
You may solely deduct unreimbursed medical bills. Which means in case your medical health insurance or a affected person help program paid for a part of your GLP-1 prices, you possibly can solely deduct the portion that you simply paid for out of pocket.
Suppose you’re on a drugs that sometimes prices $1,000 a month, however your medical health insurance pays many of the value, so that you’re solely accountable for a $150 month-to-month co-pay. When you itemize, you possibly can deduct your $150 co-pay as soon as your medical bills hit 7.5% of your AGI for the yr ($1,800 whole in case you paid that quantity every month for all the yr). However you possibly can’t deduct the total $1,000 month-to-month value of the treatment.
Learn extra: Paying money for healthcare may enable you reduce your medical payments
You may pay for weight-loss drugs along with your well being financial savings account (HSA) or healthcare versatile spending account (FSA) — however provided that they’re used to deal with a selected illness. When you’re taking the drug solely for weight reduction with no medical prognosis, you received’t be capable of pay along with your HSA or FSA or search reimbursement out of your account.
You may’t deduct any expense that you simply pay for with an HSA or FSA. Since you’re not taxed on cash you contribute to both sort of account, you don’t get one other tax deduction once you use these funds for well being prices.
Chances are you’ll have to acquire a letter of medical necessity out of your supplier to get reimbursed for GLP-1s out of your account. The letter ought to embody your prognosis, prescribed remedy, and the way it will enhance your prognosis. The doc will also be useful in case you’re audited.
Learn extra: HSA contribution limits for 2025 and 2026: Right here’s how a lot it can save you
Itemizing deductions solely is smart in case your tax write-offs are larger than the usual deduction — and about 90% of taxpayers take the usual deduction as a substitute of itemizing. As you put together your return, you’d have to have deductions totaling no less than $15,750 in case you’re single or $31,500 in case you’re a married joint filer to economize by itemizing.
When you qualify for a lot of extra deductions, like write-offs for mortgage curiosity and state and native taxes, it’s doable that GLP-1s and different medical bills may tip the scales in favor of itemizing. However understand that the primary 7.5% of your AGI that goes towards medical payments isn’t tax deductible. Even in years when you could have vital healthcare prices, taking the usual deduction typically yields better tax financial savings.
For a lot of taxpayers whose insurance coverage meets the standards for a high-deductible well being plan, funding an HSA and utilizing it to pay for GLP-1 drugs and different medical prices typically saves more cash on taxes. You contribute pretax funds, and withdrawals are additionally tax-free.
In 2026, you possibly can contribute as much as $4,400 if in case you have single protection or $8,750 for household protection. So if in case you have a person plan, you would max out the account for the yr and decrease your taxable earnings by $4,400. You could possibly then withdraw these funds tax-free to pay for GLP-1s and different well being prices — or you would let the funds roll over from yr to yr, for the reason that cash stays with you even in case you change plans.
Learn extra: Free tax submitting: Tips on how to file your 2025 return totally free
GLP-1s are a medical expense you can deduct in your taxes in the event that they’re prescribed to deal with a well being situation you’ve been recognized with, like diabetes, weight problems, or coronary heart illness. When you had been prescribed the treatment since you need to reduce weight, but it surely’s not getting used to deal with a selected illness, you possibly can’t deduct the fee for tax functions.
You might be able to write off Ozempic for weight reduction in case your supplier prescribed it to deal with a selected illness, like weight problems, diabetes, fatty liver illness, or hypertension. Nonetheless, if the treatment was prescribed that can assist you reduce weight for beauty causes or to enhance your total well being, it’s not tax-deductible.
Health club membership charges aren’t tax-deductible, however you might be able to deduct the price of taking part in a weight-loss program at a health club if it’s geared toward treating a recognized illness.
