A single Medicare enrollee with income of $1,350 a month or less and savings under $9,950 can have the entire Part B premium paid by the state. In 2026 that premium is $202.90 a month, which adds up to $2,434.80 over a year for someone who pays it out of a Social Security check.
The help comes from the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program, the most generous of four Medicare Savings Programs. Medicare.gov lists the 2026 limits and says people apply through their state, not through Medicare itself.
What the $1,350 and $9,950 limits mean
For 2026, Medicare.gov puts the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary income limit at $1,350 a month for one person and $1,824 for a married couple. The savings limit, which Medicare calls the resource limit, is $9,950 for an individual and $14,910 for a couple.
The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month for 2026, and the figure can be higher for people with larger incomes. The CMS fact sheet on 2026 Part B costs lists the same premium along with a $283 annual deductible.
Anyone who meets the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary limits gets more than a premium break. The program also pays Part B deductibles, coinsurance and copayments for services Medicare covers, and Part A premiums for the small group who owe one. That is a bigger package than the other three programs offer.
Single enrollees living on Social Security and a small pension are the people the $1,350 line is meant for, along with couples at $1,824. A person at $1,400 a month is over the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary line but may still land in a higher bracket, covered further down. Alaska and Hawaii set the limits slightly higher, and Medicare.gov says they go up each year.
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What if income is a little higher?
Two other programs reach past the $1,350 line, and both pay the Part B premium. The Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary program covers incomes up to $1,616 a month for one person and $2,184 for a couple. The Qualifying Individual program goes to $1,816 for one person and $2,455 for a couple.
Both keep the same $9,950 individual and $14,910 couple savings limits as the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program. They pay the Part B premium only, not deductibles or copayments, and a person must have both Part A and Part B to qualify. For someone at $1,700 a month, that still means $202.90 less coming out of the check.
The fourth program, the Qualified Disabled and Working Individuals program, pays Part A premiums only. It does nothing for the Part B premium, so it is not the program most retirees are looking for.
How does someone actually sign up?
Medicare Savings Programs are run by states, and the application goes through the state Medicaid office. Medicaid.gov says people must contact their state Medicaid agency and lists contact details for every state, including phone numbers. Medicare.gov points to that same directory from each program section on its savings page.
Each state’s row in that directory carries its own enrollment link, so the first step is picking the right state. Medicare.gov says the programs are run by the states and that people apply through them, which means income counting, forms and processing times can differ from one state to the next.
The reward for finishing the application is concrete. For someone who qualifies for the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program, the $202.90 premium is paid, and the same program also pays Part B deductibles, coinsurance and copayments that Original Medicare otherwise leaves behind.
Does a Medicare Savings Program also unlock Extra Help?
It does, and many enrollees miss it. Medicare.gov says people automatically get Extra Help, the program that lowers Part D drug costs, if they have full Medicaid, receive SSI, or get state help paying Part B premiums through a Medicare Savings Program.
Extra Help has its own 2026 limits for people who apply separately: income of $23,940 and resources of $18,090 for an individual in the 48 contiguous states, and $32,460 and $36,100 for a couple. Medicare.gov also says people can apply for Extra Help and Medicare Savings Programs at the same time.
That makes the premium program a doorway to a second benefit. A single enrollee who clears the $1,350 line pays no Part B premium and gets lower drug costs without a separate Extra Help application, according to Medicare.gov’s own description of how the two programs connect.
The $1,350 and $9,950 figures are the lines for the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program, and a single enrollee over them is looking at the Specified Low-Income or Qualifying Individual program instead. Married couples have their own, higher lines.
That is why the numbers are worth checking against the real household budget each year. The 2026 premium is $202.90, the limits are 2026 limits, and the page itself says they rise annually. Anyone near a line can ask the state agency which program fits, since the state decides, not Medicare.
Is a state’s Medicare Savings Program limit within reach?
The limits sit close together, and a single enrollee at $1,380 or $1,620 a month can be one bracket off and still be paying $202.90 every month. Applications run through the state, and each state handles them its own way.
The Medicare Cost & Coverage Protection Kit includes 51 state Medicare cost-help packs, one for each state and the District of Columbia, so the state-specific part of the application is laid out in one place. Its “Get Help Paying” section walks through the programs that cover Medicare premiums and cut drug bills.
Get the state Medicare cost-help pack for the Part B premium program →
More Financial Reading
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- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Ways Out of 22% Credit Card Interest
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
