The IRS recently has ruled that amounts paid by a healthy individual for self-initiated diagnostic tests and similar procedures will be treated as deductible medical expenses under Code Sec. 213(a). These include not only annual physical exams but also such testing as full body scans and self-administered pregnancy test kits undertaken by an individual even though he or she has shown no symptoms of illness or failed to obtain a physician's recommendation for the test. In the case of the body scan, the test is very expensive and routinely administered by a non-MD technician.

Code Sec. 213(a) allows a taxpayer to take an itemized deduction for medical expenses incurred during the tax year for his or her care, the care of a spouse or dependents and not compensated for by insurance or otherwise. The deduction is allowed to the extent that the total amount of medical expenses incurred during the taxable year exceeds 7.5 percent of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income (10 percent for those subject to the alternative minimum tax). Medical care expenses include payments for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or treatment affecting any structure or function of the body.