At 65, Dad Will Pay $6,290 for LTC Insurance at 72 and Expects a Tax Break as IRS Raises Premium Limit. Only the Part Above 7.5% of His $80,000 Income Counts. Nearly All $6,290 ...

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The IRS just raised the long-term care premium limit for retirees over 70, and a 72-year-old dad assumes a big tax break follows. Two hidden tests stand between his check and any real savings, and one state plays by different rules.

Picture a 72-year-old dad who writes a check for $6,290 to cover a year of qualified long-term care (LTC) insurance. He's heard the IRS rewards older buyers, and he's right that the 2027 premium limit for anyone over 70 is exactly $6,290. So he assumes the higher limit means a big tax break at filing time.

Federal law allows a medical deduction only for expenses that exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI). Give Dad $80,000 of adjusted gross income (AGI), and that floor is $6,000. If the premium is his only qualifying medical expense, just $290 sits above the threshold, and even that is deductible only if he itemizes. His nest egg covers the rest, the same way it covers the electric bill.

The number comes from IRS Revenue Procedure 2026-35, released on November 5, 2026. It sets the 2027 age-based limits on how much qualified long-term care insurance premium can count as a medical expense:

Many successful investors eventually reach the same moment. The saving is done, the portfolio is built, and the question quietly changes from how much can I grow this to how much can I take out? Get that second question wrong and decades of good investing can come apart in a handful of years.

That's a ceiling on how much premium the IRS lets you count as a medical expense. Whether any of it becomes an actual deduction depends on two more tests. If Dad pays more than that each year, he still counts only $6,290. The cap also applies per person, so a married couple who are both over 70 can each count up to their own limit.

The policy has to qualify, too. IRS rules require it to be guaranteed renewable, and it can't offer a cash surrender value that can be paid out, pledged or borrowed against. A policy that doesn't qualify doesn't get this federal tax treatment, no matter the buyer's age.

The 7.5% floor works like a deductible on a tax break. At $80,000 of AGI, the first $6,000 of qualifying medical expenses produces no deduction.

His other medical costs change that.

Medicare leaves a…

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