Do these required nursing program expenses qualify for the AOTC: physical exam, background check, malpractice insurance, drug screen, CPR certification, ID badge.

Any fees or expenses which are required for enrollment or attendance at the school are qualified education expenses and can be used to claim the American Opportunity Tax credit.

Please read this IRS document:

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/qualified-ed-expenses

As I explained above, all your program expenses count as qualified education expenses for the AOTC because they were required for enrollment or attendance at your school. If you need more information, please comment.

The program also requires that I have regular health insurance, however, it is my understanding that regular health insurance is not a covered expense. Is that accurate?

Health insurance cannot be counted as education expenses.

So when you write, “Any fees or expenses which are required for enrollment or attendance at the school are qualified education expenses“, that blanket statement is not accurate because health insurance is a required expense. Will you please review my initial list of expenses and tell me if I can deduct them?

All the expenses you listed except for malpractice insurance qualify. Please see the paragraph on Expenses that Do Not Qualify in the IRS document I listed in the main answer.

Will you please direct me to where the irs states that malpractice insurance is not deductible for the AOTC? Malpractice insurance is not mentioned in the irs link you shared.

Insurance in general is excluded.