Extra Help or the Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) is a federal program helping low-income Medicare beneficiaries pay a portion of their Medicare Part D prescription drug costs. Based on a person’s income and financial resources, the Extra Help or LIS program pays all or part of a person’s monthly Medicare Part D plan premiums and a significant portion of the beneficiary’s medication costs. If you qualify for the LIS program, you need to choose a Medicare Part D plan that qualifies for your state’s $0 monthly premium or allow yourself to be automatically enrolled in a plan that qualifies for the $0 premium.
Which Medicare Part
D plans qualify for the full Low-Income Subsidy $0 premium in your state?
Each year, insurance companies adjust their Medicare plan’s monthly
premiums. Some Medicare Part D plans raise their premiums and move their
prescription drug plans above the
state low-income subsidy (LIS) benchmark limits,
while other Part D plan sponsors lower their monthly premiums so that their
plans can qualify for a state’s $0 premium. This means that the Medicare
Part D plans qualifying for the LIS $0 premium can change each year.
The states with the largest selection of LIS
$0 premium plans are
Alabama,
Arizona,
Idaho,
Tennessee, and
Utah, all with 12 Medicare Part D plans qualifying
for the 2015 LIS $0 premium. The states with the fewest Part D plans
qualifying for the 2015 LIS $0 premium are (once again)
Nevada and
Florida both with only four LIS $0 premium Part D
plans.
Residents of several states, including
Arkansas,
Kansas,
Indiana,
Kentucky, and Region 25 (
IA MN MT NE ND SD ND), will find significantly fewer
LIS-qualifying 2015 Medicare Part D plans.
The state with the most Medicare beneficiaries
qualifying for the low-income subsidy is
California (over 1 million “Extra Help” recipients).
California LIS recipients will have
six 2015 Medicare Part D plans qualify for the $0
premium from which to choose. On our
national PDP-Facts statistics page (using California
as an example), you can scroll to the bottom to see a table showing the 2015
Medicare Part D plans (sorted by Plan ID) qualifying for the $0 premium
Low-Income Subsidy.
PLEASE NOTE: Because of changes in the annual Medicare Part D plan premiums and LIS benchmarks, some full low-income subsidy qualifying Medicare beneficiaries may be automatically reassigned to new 2015 Part D plans that will still qualify for the $0 monthly premium. However, Extra Help recipients who chose their own plan in the past will
not be auto-reassigned to a new plan and may need to select a new 2015 Medicare Part D plan that still meets the $0 monthly premium threshold. You can use our PDP-Finder to see LIS qualifying plans in your state. Be sure to select “Yes, show only plans that qualify for $0 premium.
Click here to see an example for Texas.