26 U.S.C. § 139D — Indian health care benefits

This section keeps certain Indian health care benefits out of taxable income. (a) General rule. Except as this section says otherwise, a person's taxable income does not include the value of a "qualified Indian health care benefit." (b) Qualified Indian health care benefit. This covers four things: (1) health services or benefits the Indian Health Service provides or pays for, directly or through a grant, contract, or compact with a tribe or tribal organization, or through a program it funds; (2) medical care that a tribe or tribal organization provides, pays for, or reimburses for a tribal member (or that member's spouse or dependent); (3) health insurance coverage, or something that works like health insurance, that a tribe or tribal organization provides for a member's medical care (including a spouse or dependent); and (4) any other medical care a tribe or tribal organization provides that fills in for, replaces, or adds to federal medical care programs for tribes or their members. (c) Definitions. This subsection borrows definitions from other tax-code sections for: (1) "Indian tribe" (section 45A(c)(6)); (2) "tribal organization" (the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act); (3) "medical care" (section 213); (4) "accident or health insurance" and "accident or health plan" (section 105); and (5) "dependent" (section 152, without three specific limits that section normally has). (d) Denial of double benefit. The tax-free treatment in subsection (a) does not apply to any amount that is already excluded from income, or already deducted, under some other tax rule.