Yes. Having Medicaid does not prevent you from getting Medicare, and many people have both at the same time. When you have both, they work together to cover your costs.
Medicare and Medicaid are two separate programs, and you can absolutely qualify for both. People who have both are often called dual eligibles. Medicare is a federal health insurance program based on your age or disability, while Medicaid is a joint federal and state program based on your income and assets. Having one does not disqualify you from the other. When you have both, Medicare pays first as the primary payer, and Medicaid steps in after that to help cover costs that Medicare leaves behind, like copays, deductibles, or services Medicare does not cover at all. How much Medicaid helps depends on which Medicaid category you fall into. Some people get full Medicaid benefits, meaning very little out of pocket. Others qualify for a more limited program that just helps pay Medicare premiums or cost-sharing. If you are turning 65 and you already have Medicaid, you will generally be enrolled in Medicare automatically if you have been receiving Social Security benefits. If not, you will need to sign up through Social Security. It is worth knowing that once you have Medicare, your Medicaid coverage may change, since Medicare becomes the primary payer for many services. But in most cases, having Medicare alongside Medicaid is a financial benefit, not a drawback.
Utah has a program called the Medicare Savings Program, or MSP, that helps people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. Depending on your income, MSP can pay your Medicare Part B premium, which is $185 a month in 2025, and in some cases it also covers Part A premiums and cost-sharing. The Utah Aging and Disability Resource Center, also called the ADRC, offers free SHIP counseling and can help you figure out which programs you qualify for and how your benefits work together.
If you or your parent already has Medicaid and is approaching 65 or has a qualifying disability, getting Medicare added on top can actually reduce out-of-pocket costs significantly. The two programs are designed to work together. A free call to a SHIP counselor or to us at Resting Sycamore can help you understand exactly what your combined coverage would look like.
Our Commitment to Reliable Medicare Information
At Resting Sycamore Advisors, we work to provide accurate, current, and trustworthy information about Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, and Special Needs Plans.
To do that, we use data published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which is the official source for Medicare plan and enrollment information.
Our Medicare plan pages and comparison tools are powered by CMS datasets, including:
When possible, we link to the original CMS resources so you can review the source material directly.
We follow the CMS release schedule and update our website as new data becomes available.
We load new plan year Landscape and PBP files before the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 through December 7). We also monitor CMS.gov for updates or revisions and refresh our content when needed.
We update enrollment and performance data as CMS publishes revised files, which are typically released monthly or quarterly.
We routinely monitor CMS announcements for corrections, reissued files, or other changes and update our pages accordingly.
Each plan page includes a Last Accessed date so visitors can see when the source information was most recently reviewed.
CMS data can be difficult to read in raw form. To make it easier to use, we format and organize the data for clarity.
This includes:
All data values come from CMS. We do not change the underlying values beyond formatting, organization, and presentation.
We keep internal records of the CMS dataset versions used on our site.
If CMS issues corrected or revised files, we update our website to reflect the latest available version.
Please keep the following in mind:
For personalized Medicare assistance, please use these official resources: