Help Paying Medicare Part B Premium in Maryland

Three Programs That Pay Your Part B Premium

The standard Medicare Part B premium is $202.90 per month in 2026. For a senior living on $1,400/month in Social Security, that's nearly 15% of gross income — gone before rent, food, or prescriptions.

Maryland runs three Medicare Savings Programs that eliminate the Part B premium entirely:

QMB covers the Part B premium plus all other Medicare cost-sharing (deductibles, coinsurance, copayments). Income limit: $1,350/month individual.

SLMB covers the Part B premium only. Income limit: $1,616/month individual.

QI also covers the Part B premium only, with a higher income ceiling of $1,816/month individual. QI runs on capped federal funding, so applications are first-come, first-served each year.

All three programs share a resource limit of $9,950 (individual) or $14,910 (couple).

How the Premium Actually Gets Paid

Once your parent is approved for any MSP tier, the state notifies CMS, which notifies Social Security. SSA then stops withholding the Part B premium from the monthly Social Security check. The state takes over the payment.

This process takes 60 to 90 days to propagate through all three systems. During that window, the premium may still come out of the Social Security check. When the system catches up, SSA issues a retroactive lump-sum refund for every premium withheld since the MSP effective date.

For SLMB and QI, coverage can be backdated up to three months before the application month. QMB starts the first of the month following the approval decision — no retroactive coverage. Either way, the refund covers the gap between the effective date and the day SSA updated the withholding.

When None of These Apply

If your parent's income is above the QI ceiling ($1,816/month individual) but Part D drug premiums are still a strain, Maryland's SPDAP pays up to $100/month toward Part D premiums for residents with income up to 300% FPL ($3,990/month). SPDAP doesn't touch the Part B premium, but it can reduce total Medicare costs for moderate-income seniors.

For Part B premiums specifically, the Medicare Savings Programs are the only Maryland-based relief. There's no separate state program that covers Part B above the QI income threshold.

Where to Start

Check eligibility by income tier, then apply through myMDTHINK or your local DSS. The Maryland Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help & SPDAP Guide walks through the full process from eligibility check to tracking the premium refund.

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