How we research and figure eligibility

Where the numbers come from

The 2026 federal Extra Help income and resource limits, and the cost-sharing amounts, come from the CMS CY2026 LIS resource & cost-sharing memo and the SSA Extra Help publication (Pub. 05-10508). Medicare Savings Program baseline figures come from Medicare.gov, NCOA, and Medicare Interactive. We treat CMS, SSA, Medicare.gov, and state .gov pages as primary; everything else is supplementary.

How the estimator works

The eligibility check compares your countable income and resources to the 2026 limits. It applies the $20 general monthly income disregard and the home/one-vehicle exclusions, and offers the $1,500-per-person burial set-aside. It deliberately does not attempt every earned-income exclusion, in-kind-support rule, or resource carve-out — those are individual and complex. So the result is framed as an estimate, with the math shown, and it always routes you to SSA and your SHIP counselor, who make and verify the real determination.

“Borderline” is a deliberate outcome: when income qualifies but resources are near the line, we tell you to apply anyway, because the exact countable amounts are often lower than a quick estimate suggests.

Privacy

The estimator runs entirely in your browser. Your income, savings, state, and Medicaid status are never sent to us, never stored, and never logged. We use cookies only for basic page-view analytics, and there are no advertising or retargeting cookies. See our privacy notice.

How often we re-verify

Federal limits update annually, typically in January. We review and re-pin them each year and carry a last-verified date on every claim. State Medicare Savings Program rules change independently and slowly; when a state changes a limit, we update that state’s page. If a figure on this site looks out of date against the primary source, the primary source wins — and please tell us.

How the site is funded (full disclosure)

• Display advertising — unobtrusive, non-personalized. Currently dormant; turned on only after independent review.
• A possible Medicare-agent referral — only for people who turn out notto qualify for Extra Help or an MSP, and only if they explicitly ask to see plan options. Any such referral will carry a disclosure reviewed against CMS’s Medicare Communications and Marketing Guidelines. It is dormant today.
• We never show a paid option ahead of the free SHIP counselor, and we never monetize people who qualify for help.

What we don’t do

• We don’t invent figures. Unknowns are labeled, not guessed.
• We don’t display a reviewer we don’t actually have.
• We don’t use scare tactics, countdowns, or “don’t lose your benefits” framing.