Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) recipients still will have some $0 premium qualifying Part D plan choices for 2015

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 notbe 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.