Extra Help is a federal program that reduces what people with limited income and resources pay for Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage. It can lower or eliminate drug plan premiums, deductibles, and copays.
Extra Help, sometimes called the Low Income Subsidy or LIS, is designed for people who have Medicare but struggle to afford the cost of prescription drug coverage. Without help, Part D costs include a monthly premium, an annual deductible, and copays or coinsurance at the pharmacy. Those costs add up fast, especially for people on multiple medications.With Extra Help, those costs can drop significantly. Some people who qualify pay very little at the pharmacy, sometimes just a few dollars per prescription, and may have little to no premium for their drug plan.To qualify, you generally need to have income below roughly 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Level and have limited financial resources, meaning savings, checking accounts, and certain other assets below a set threshold. The exact limits adjust each year, so it's worth checking current figures. People who already receive Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or participate in a Medicare Savings Program are typically automatically enrolled in Extra Help.You apply through Social Security, either online at ssa.gov, by phone, or at a local Social Security office. There is no cost to apply and no obligation.
Utah's Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRC) can help you apply for Extra Help at no charge. They can also check whether you qualify for Utah's Medicare Savings Programs at the same time, since many people qualify for both.
For you, this means if prescription costs feel unmanageable, Extra Help could make a meaningful difference in what you actually pay at the pharmacy each month.
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: