Title: Medical Debt Tax Relief Act
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
Medical Debt Tax Relief Act
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income the discharge of medical indebtedness. The bill applies to the discharge of debt incurred by the taxpayer for expenses of the taxpayer or the spouse or a dependent of the taxpayer for: (1) diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease; (2) the purpose of affecting any structure or function of the body; (3) transportation primarily for and essential to medical care, or (4) long-term care services.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5493 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5493

   To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from income 
                   discharge of medical indebtedness.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 12, 2018

 Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas (for himself and Mr. Larson of Connecticut) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from income 
                   discharge of medical indebtedness.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Medical Debt Tax Relief Act''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSION OF DISCHARGE OF MEDICAL INDEBTEDNESS.

    (a) In General.--Section 108 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ``or'' in 
        subparagraph (D), by striking the period at the end of 
        subparagraph (E) and inserting ``, or'', and by adding at the 
        end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(F) the indebtedness discharged is qualified 
                medical indebtedness.'', and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(j) Qualified Medical Indebtedness.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        `qualified medical indebtedness' means indebtedness which was 
        incurred by an individual for--
                    ``(A) diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or 
                prevention of disease of the taxpayer or the spouse or 
                a dependent of the taxpayer, or for the purpose of 
                affecting any structure or function of the body of the 
                taxpayer or the spouse or a dependent of the taxpayer,
                    ``(B) for transportation primarily for and 
                essential to medical care referred to in subparagraph 
                (A), or
                    ``(C) for qualified long-term care services for the 
                taxpayer or the spouse or a dependent of the taxpayer.
            ``(2) Additional rules.--Rules similar to the rules of 
        paragraphs (2), (5), (8), (9), and (11) of section 213(d) shall 
        apply for purposes of this subsection.
            ``(3) Terms used in section 213.--For purposes of this 
        subsection, any term also used in section 213(d)(1) shall have 
        the same meaning as when used in such section.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to indebtedness discharged after the date of 
enactment of this Act.
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