Every month, the Medicare Part B premium comes out of a Social Security check or arrives as a bill. For retirees living on a small income in New York, the state can take that cost over entirely. The route runs through a Medicaid-based program that most applicants reach with one application.
The question for each household is simple: is my income low enough for New York to pay my Part B premium? The state Health Department publishes the cutoff, the form and the mailing rule on one page, and the numbers below come straight from it. Income is counted before the program steps in, so the answer depends on a single monthly figure for a single person.
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The $1,836 line and the $20 that nudges it
The New York State Department of Health’s Medicare Savings Program page, revised in May 2026, lists $1,836 a month as the income limit for a single person in the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program, known as QMB. A couple’s limit on the same page is $2,489 a month.
The page also notes that Medicaid allows a $20 deduction from an applicant’s gross monthly income when eligibility is calculated. With that deduction applied, the listed single figure becomes $1,856, and the couple figure becomes $2,509. Anyone whose gross income sits just above $1,836 may still land inside the program once the $20 comes off.
The state’s wording is that the listed income already reflects the $20 monthly SSI general income disregard. That is why the headline figure of $1,836 is the safer number to compare against first, with the $20 treated as a cushion for households near the line.
What the state pays at QMB, and what it pays one rung up
For people inside the QMB limit, the state page says the program pays Part A and Part B premiums where they apply. It adds that the program also pays Medicare Parts A and B coinsurance and deductibles, so the benefit reaches past the monthly premium into the bills that come after a doctor visit.
A second program, Qualified Individual, sits just above it. The same page sets the QI limit for a single person at $2,474 a month, or $2,494 with the $20 deduction, and says that program pays the Medicare Part B premium only. Someone with income between the two limits therefore keeps the premium relief but loses the coinsurance and deductible coverage.
A third row on the page covers Full Medicaid for Dual Eligibles, which pays for a wide range of medical care, services and supplies along with premiums, coinsurance and deductibles. The page lists resource limits only for that row, at $33,038 for a single applicant and $44,796 for a couple, and gives none for QMB or QI.
One form, filed on paper or online
The application is the Medicare Savings Program Application, form DOH-4328, which carries a March 2026 revision date on the state page. An instructions document sits beside it, and the same page says applicants can print the form or apply online through NY State of Health.
Paper applications follow a specific rule. The state page says all paper applications for the Medicare Savings Program must be mailed to the local Department of Social Services where the applicant lives, not to a state office in Albany. Applying online through NY State of Health avoids that mailing step entirely.
The page does not describe a separate application for Part B premium help, which is why the program fits the description of a single form. The same DOH-4328 covers the premium-only QI rung and the fuller QMB rung, and the county decides which one an applicant lands in based on income.
Where the premium help stops
Even full premium relief leaves other Medicare costs untouched. A Part B premium paid by the state does nothing about a Medigap policy, and Medicare.gov’s page on when to buy Medigap explains why the timing of that purchase matters, since the best protections attach to a particular window.
Drug coverage works the same way. Medicare.gov’s page on the Part D late enrollment penalty describes the charge that can follow a gap without drug coverage, and that penalty is a separate bill from the Part B premium the state would pay.
The Health Department page does not state a 2027 Part B premium, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has not announced one, so no 2027 dollar savings can be calculated yet. What the page does confirm is the mechanism: once an applicant is enrolled, the state pays the premium instead of the beneficiary.
How the application path looks for a single person
For a single retiree, the sequence on the state page is short. Compare gross monthly income with $1,836, remember the $20 deduction that can stretch the limit to $1,856, and then choose paper or online. The page lists no resource test for QMB or QI, so income is the number that carries the decision.
Anyone between $1,836 and $2,474 may be placed in the QI program instead, which still pays the Part B premium. Anyone above $2,474, or $2,494 with the deduction, falls outside both Medicare Savings Program rows for a single person.
Does income clear New York’s $1,836 line for a Part B premium?
A single retiree whose income is just over $1,836 or $2,474 may still pay the Part B premium every month, and the premium is only one line of the Medicare bill. Drug costs, the income-based surcharge and Medigap timing all sit outside what the state program pays.
Cut Your Medicare Bill is a guide of ten moves to pay less for the same care, including the $2,100 drug cap for 2026 and what counts toward it, the surcharge appeal with Form SSA-44 after retirement, divorce or a spouse’s death, and 2026 Medicare costs at a glance on one table. It also includes a fall plan check worksheet that compares plans by total yearly cost.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
