Medicare Part D Extra Help Income Limits 2027: Who Qualifies, the Asset Test and What You'll Pay

Reviewed by Russell Noga, Licensed Medicare Insurance Broker (all 50 states) — Last updated November 6, 2026

Extra Help, also called the Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS), is a federal program run by Social Security and Medicare. It pays most of what a drug plan costs for people with modest incomes and savings.

The published figures are annual, but Social Security checks your income month by month and skips several kinds of money. Below you’ll find the current limits, the monthly figures after the disregard, the asset rules, a worked eligibility check and what members pay at the pharmacy in 2027.

Social Security compares your countable income with 150% of the federal poverty level (FPL) for your household size. A spouse you live with counts, and so does their income. Alaska and Hawaii have their own, higher poverty tables.

The annual column below comes from Social Security’s eligibility rules (POMS HI 03001.020). The monthly column is our own calculation: one-twelfth of the annual limit plus the $20 of unearned income each month that Social Security doesn’t count.

Bigger households get a higher limit. In the 48 states each additional family member living with you and relying on you for support adds $8,520 a year.

Two different calendars drive the limits. The income test is tied to the HHS poverty guidelines, which are published in the Federal Register in mid-to-late January. The 2026 guidelines came out on January 15, 2026, setting the poverty line at $15,960 for one person in the 48 states.

Social Security’s manual says that until the new table is loaded, it keeps using 150% of the prior year’s table. So anyone applying this fall, or in January 2027, is measured against the $23,940 and $32,460 figures. Expect the 2027 limits to be a little higher once the new guidelines arrive.

Resource limits move separately. CMS raises them each year by inflation and announces them in a memo to drug plans; for 2026 the increase was 3.01%. As of November 6, 2026, CMS hadn’t posted the 2027 resource memo, so the 2026 limits below are the newest official ones.

For 2026 the resource limit is $18,090 for one person and $36,100 for a married couple living together. Each figure already includes $1,500 per person that Social Security sets aside for funeral or burial costs. Without that allowance the limits are $16,590 and $33,100.

Counted: cash, checking and savings accounts, CDs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, IRAs, 401(k)s and real estate other than the home you live in. Not counted: your primary home, vehicles, life insurance (including cash value), burial plots, irrevocable burial accounts and personal belongings such as furniture or jewelry.

Some money is ignored for nine months after you get it, including retroactive Social Security or SSI payments, certain tax refunds and state or local relocation assistance. If a back payment pushes your bank balance up, it won’t count against you right away.

Countable income is lower than most people expect. Social Security looks at gross amounts, before any Medicare premium is taken out of your check, and then removes these:

Assumptions (illustrative, not a real household): a married couple in Ohio, both on Medicare. He gets $1,650 a month from Social Security. She gets $780 from Social Security and earns $400 a month at a part-time job. They own their house and one car and have $22,000 in savings and a $9,000 IRA. Figures use the current limits.

A $95 margin is thin. If her hours or their checks rise, the new 2027 limits decide whether they still qualify.

Everyone approved for Extra Help now gets the full subsidy. The old partial tier, with its sliding premium and 15% coinsurance, ended on January 1, 2024, when the Inflation Reduction Act extended full help to everyone up to 150% FPL.

For 2027, CMS set these per-prescription maximums:

Your monthly premium is $0 in a benchmark plan, one priced at or below your region’s low-income subsidy amount. In a pricier plan you pay the difference. Members also never owe the Part D late enrollment penalty. The broader picture of premiums and deductibles is on our Medicare Part D cost page.

You don’t have to file anything if Medicare already knows your income is low. It deems you eligible if you get full Medicaid benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or help from a Medicare Savings Program, the state program that pays your Part B premium. You’ll get a purple letter from Medicare confirming it.

Everyone else applies through Social Security with Form SSA-1020:

If you lose automatic status, Medicare mails a gray letter in the fall, and it doubles as an application. Send it back so your help continues in January. Our Medicare Part D guide covers enrollment basics.

Extra Help only covers Part D. It doesn’t pay a Medigap premium, and having a Medicare Supplement policy doesn’t count against you on the application, because a health insurance policy with no cash value isn’t treated as a resource. Many people combine the two: Medigap handles hospital and doctor bills, and Extra Help makes the drug plan nearly free.

The enrollment rules favor this pairing. Since January 1, 2025, anyone with Extra Help may switch once a month into Original Medicare with a standalone drug plan, or from one standalone plan to another. The old version allowed one change per calendar quarter. The monthly option doesn’t cover moving into a regular Medicare Advantage plan.

Two cautions apply. If you have full Medicaid or the QMB program, those already pick up most Part A and Part B cost sharing, so a Medigap policy usually duplicates coverage. And a Medigap policy still requires its own enrollment timing and, outside protected windows, health questions. Compare letters in our guide to Medicare Supplement plans, then pick a drug plan from our list of the best Medicare Part D plans.

Free Medigap Price Comparison

Call a Licensed Agent Now

Compare Plan G, Plan N and more from several insurance companies in one call.

☎ 1-888-891-0229

No cost, no obligation to enroll