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federal poverty level

What is the FPL?

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How Medicaid supports 1 in 5 Medicare enrollees

How Medicaid supports 1 in 5 Medicare enrollees

In 2016, an estimated 11.7 million Medicare beneficiaries – about 20 percent of all enrollees – were also enrolled in Medicaid and are known as dual-eligible beneficiaries or dual-eligibles. And while you might not hear that term often – or at all – it's worth your time to understand what it means to have both Medicare and Medicaid (especially if you or a loved one is part of the "Medicare-Medicaid" population).

Extra Help

Extra Help

Individuals with limited income and resources and who have difficulty making their Medicare premium payments are, in some cases, eligible for financial assistance through the Extra Help program.

What is the federal poverty level?

In order to be eligible for Medicaid (as a full dual-eligible beneficiary, or for partial assistance with things like Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs) or Extra Help financial assistance, a Medicare beneficiary must have income that doesn’t exceed certain percentages of the federal poverty level.

Eligibility varies depending on the program, with more assistance available to people with lower incomes. Asset tests are also common, meaning that the beneficiary must have limited assets in addition to a fairly low income in order to qualify for assistance through the Medicaid program.

The FPL, which changes annually and is published in January each year by HHS, is $13,590 for a single person in 2022.

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