## Facts

- Robert Bilder, a New Jersey attorney with serious heart disease, was advised by a specialist to spend winter months in a warm climate as part of treatment.
- Bilder, his wife, and their young child stayed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, renting an apartment for three months for $1,500.
- The following winter, they spent two months in Fort Lauderdale in an apartment rented for $829.
- Bilder claimed the rental payments as deductible “medical expenses” on his 1954 and 1955 federal income tax returns.
- The Commissioner of Internal Revenue disallowed the rental deductions in full.

## Issues

1. Whether rent paid for an apartment while a taxpayer follows a physician’s directive to spend winters in a warm climate qualifies as an expense for “medical care” deductible under I.R.C. § 213 (1954).

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the Third Circuit.
- The Court held that apartment rent incurred while away from home for medically directed treatment is a nondeductible personal living expense under § 213.
- The Court concluded that § 213’s express allowance for transportation “primarily for and essential to” medical care does not extend to meals or lodging (including rent).

## Legal Principles

- Under I.R.C. § 213 (1954), deductible “medical care” includes amounts paid for diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and for transportation primarily for and essential to such medical care.
- Ordinary personal living expenses (including meals and lodging) incurred while away from home for medical reasons are not deductible as “medical care,” even if the travel and stay are medically prescribed and essential.
- When Congress expressly authorizes a limited category of expenses (transportation), related categories not included in the statute (meals and lodging) are excluded, particularly where legislative history confirms that limitation.

## Conclusion

The Court held that § 213 (1954) bars deduction of rent for a Florida apartment used during a medically directed winter stay because it is a personal living expense; the statute allows transportation essential to medical care but not associated lodging or meals.


Commissioner v. Bilder, 369 U.S. 499 (1962)