Breastmilk vs. Formula Debate

Can infant formula ever be a medical care expense if provided by a mother incapable of breastfeeding?

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was recently asked to address the issue of when expenditures for infant formula can be classified as medical care expenses under the Internal Revenue Code (“the tax code”). The inquiry was submitted by a an attorney representing a mother who had a double mastectomy a number of years before giving birth to her first child. In light of the double mastectomy, the mother could not breast feed her child and had to purchase infant formula to meet her baby’s nutritional needs.

Article: http://www.wickedlocal.com/westborough/news/lifestyle/columnists/x23532727/Thompson-Food-for-thought

EDITED TO ADD: This debate topic is about regular, off-the-shelf formula, not specialized formulas. I believe that the specialized formulas are already covered for some people and are not the topic of this particular debate.

Just as a comparison...

Seven Surprising Medical Expense Deductions

1. Special Practitioners
- Services from chiropractors, Christian Science practitioners and acupuncturists are all deductible. So too is the cost of psychoanalysis.

2. Egg Donor Expenses
- Since fertility treatments are deductible, the IRS allowed a woman who wasn't able to conceive to deduct the costs (including legal fees) for an egg donor.

3. Medical Conferences
- The cost of traveling to a medical conference about your disease is deductible, as is the cost of registration for that conference

4. Alcohol Treatment
- In-patient treatment for alcohol and other substance abuse is deductible. You can also deduct the cost of getting to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, so long as a doctor has said that you need to cut down on your drinking to treat alcohol-related diseases. Current medical mileage deduction: 24 cents a mile.

5. Home Modifications
- If you or someone in your household is disabled, the cost of modifying entrances, hallways, kitchens and bathrooms to make them wheelchair accessible are all deductible.

6. Swimming Pool Maintenance
- The Tax Court allowed a Florida couple to deduct the $1,200 annual cost of maintaining an in-ground swimming pool. The couple installed the pool after their severely retarded son's pediatrician recommended he swim to develop his motor skills; the husband began using the pool too after he was injured and his doctors recommended aquatic therapy.

7. Guide Dogs
- Various aids for the blind and deaf including guide dogs are deductible as medical expenses. The IRS has yet to rule, however, on a July request by the Psychiatric Service Dog Society that it also allow medical deductions for specially trained dogs assisting those with mental health disabilities.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/27/deductible-medical-expenses-irs-taxes-personal-finance-wood.html

I believe that specialized formula SHOULD be covered, and I guess I should have specified that.

The question was about regular, off-the-shelf formula.

I'll update my post.