Medical Expenses - Do You Have to Do the Worksheet Categories

[BaliThai]

I am using TT 2022 Desktop Deluxe.

Walking through the federal deductions in Easy Step, it asked questions about categories of medical expenses that appear on the worksheet. Is there any specific reason we need to break out the expenses into those categories, or can we combine them? My insurance company has a downloadable claim summary that includes physician visits, hospital stays, lab work & x-rays, and diagnostic tests on one spreadsheet. It would save much time if I could use the total sum from that claim summary rather than break it out into individual categories. If we have all the substantiating documentation, does it matter? 

Thank you for any guidance!

[Bsch4477 · Accepted solution]

You could do that. The IRS only sees the total anyway. Remember that you can only deduct expenses that were not reimbursed. 

[rjs]

The purpose of the categories in TurboTax is to remind you of what expenses you can include, so that you don't leave anything out. The categories don't appear on your tax return, just the total.