Seniors! Your State Will Pay Your $202 Medicare Premium

Every month Medicare takes two hundred and two dollars out of your Social Security check before you ever see it. For a lot of people, the state will pay that bill instead - the whole premium, straight to Medicare, with nothing changing about your doctors, your hospital, or your card. It is called a Medicare Savings Program, and it has three levels. Most people check the first one, find they are over the income line by fifty or a hundred dollars, and walk away without ever learning the other two exist. More than four in ten people who qualify for this are not signed up. There is no age rule and no pass-or-fail test in this video. You make one application and your state decides which level you belong on. The federal income figures are a floor, not a ceiling - some states set their lines well above them, and some have dropped the savings test entirely. The fourteen costs covered in this video: 1. The monthly Part B premium 2. The yearly Part B deductible 3. The twenty percent coinsurance on every bill - worth more than all the rest combined 4. The hospital deductible 5. The skilled nursing facility daily charge 6. The income line you think you failed 7. The savings test - and the states that dropped it 8. Your Part D plan premium 9. Your Part D deductible 10. The price of each prescription 11. Everything above the yearly drug cap 12. Insulin above thirty-five dollars 13. The yearly wellness visit and the screenings 14. The help itself - free one-to-one counseling Free one-to-one help: your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) at shiphelp.org, or your state Medicaid office. Social Security will never ask you to pay to have your benefits started, increased or paid. Nobody legitimate will ever charge you a fee to apply for these programs. This video is general information, not financial or legal advice. Income limits, asset rules and program names vary by state and change each year. Confirm your own situation with SHIP or your state Medicaid office before acting. SOURCES (all primary, verified 2026-09-20) Medicare Savings Programs and 2026 income/asset limits: https://www.medicare.gov/basics/costs/help/medicare-savings-programs 2026 Part B premium $202.90 and deductible $283: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2026-medicare-parts-b-premiums-deductibles Extra Help 2026 limits and the single full-subsidy tier (SSA POMS HI 03001.020): https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0603001020 Part D out-of-pocket cap and insulin: https://www.medicare.gov/drug-coverage-part-d/costs-for-medicare-drug-coverage/costs-in-the-coverage-gap https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/insulin Free preventive services and the wellness-visit distinction: https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/yearly-wellness-visits Take-up: 56.7% enrolled / 43.3% not (JAMA Network Open, MCBS linked to CMS records): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12495494/ SHIP free counseling: https://www.shiphelp.org/ ========================================================= TAGS ========================================================= medicare savings program, QMB, qualified medicare beneficiary, medicare part b premium, stop paying medicare premium, medicare help for seniors, extra help part d, medicare premium paid by state, SLMB, medicare costs 2026, part b deductible, seniors on medicare, medicare and medicaid difference, low income medicare help, SHIP counseling, medicare savings 2026, social security deduction medicare, part d cap 2026, insulin 35 dollars, free medicare wellness visit