The Arkansas Medicare Savings Program pays your Medicare Part B premium — $202.90 a month in 2026 — and at the top level pays your deductibles and copays too. It is run by Arkansas Medicaid, not by Medicare, and roughly one in three people who qualify never apply. This Arkansas medicare savings program guide gives the 2026 limits as Arkansas applies them, the asset rule, how it triggers Part D Extra Help, and where to apply.
Limits below are from the National Council on Aging’s 2026 table built on the federal poverty guidelines, checked against Arkansas’s own rules; they reset each spring when the new guidelines take effect.
In This Arkansas Medicare Savings Program Guide:
Arkansas Medicare Savings Program at a Glance (2026)
| 2026 income limits (single) | Federal (QMB $1,350 / SLMB $1,616 / QI $1,816 single; $1,824 / $2,184 / $2,455 couple) |
| 2026 asset test | Federal ($9,950 single / $14,910 couple) |
| What Arkansas calls the levels | Arkansas runs the three federal levels but labels two of them differently on its own paperwork. |
| Part B premium it can pay | $202.90 per month in 2026 |
| State prescription program | NONE. |
| Where to apply | The application goes to the Arkansas Department of Human Services, through its Division of County Operations, not to Medicare or Social Security. |
The Three Levels of the Arkansas Medicare Savings Program
- QMB (Qualified Medicare Beneficiary): pays the Part A and Part B premiums and the deductibles, coinsurance and copays. Providers who take Medicare may not bill a QMB enrollee for Medicare cost-sharing at all.
- SLMB (Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary): pays the Part B premium only.
- QI (Qualifying Individual): also pays the Part B premium only, with a slightly higher income limit; funding is capped and first-come, first-served each year.
Arkansas labels: Arkansas runs the three federal levels but labels two of them differently on its own paperwork.. Whatever the name, one application covers all three; the office places you at the highest level you qualify for.
Arkansas Medicare Savings Program Income and Asset Limits
The federal floors for a single person in 2026 are $1,350 a month for QMB, $1,616 for SLMB and $1,816 for QI, each including a $20 disregard. Arkansas’s figures: Federal (QMB $1,350 / SLMB $1,616 / QI $1,816 single; $1,824 / $2,184 / $2,455 couple).
Assets: Federal ($9,950 single / $14,910 couple). The home, one vehicle, household goods and burial funds up to $1,500 do not count.
Arkansas counts income under the SSI-related rules used for aged and disabled Medicaid, not the MAGI rules that apply to younger adults. That means countable income includes Social Security benefits, pensions and retirement payments, VA benefits, and wages, with a general disregard subtracted from unearned income and a further allowance applied to earned income before the comparison is made.
If you are married and living with your spouse, the spouse’s income is counted with yours and the couple standard is used. The state does not publish these figures on the application itself.
Arkansas treats the three levels differently on backdating, so this catches families by surprise. QMB is not retroactive at all in Arkansas: it starts prospectively, after the month DHS approves you, so bills already sitting on the kitchen table are generally not covered by QMB.
SMB and QI-1 can be backdated for a limited number of months before the application, with one firm state restriction — QI-1 coverage can never reach back before January 1 of the year in which you applied.
The QMB Billing Protection Most People Never Use
Federal law forbids any provider who accepts Medicare from billing a QMB enrollee for Medicare deductibles, coinsurance or copays. If a bill arrives, the enrollee does not owe it. Show the QMB card, cite the rule, and if it continues report it to 1-800-MEDICARE or the Arkansas SHIP. This one protection is worth more than the premium for anyone with regular hospital or specialist care.
Arkansas Medicare Savings Program and Part D Extra Help
Once Arkansas DHS approves you for QMB, SMB or QI-1, you are automatically treated as eligible for Medicare Part D Extra Help, also called the Low-Income Subsidy. You do not file a second application for it. The state reports your approval to CMS and Social Security, and Medicare mails you a deemed-status notice confirming the lower drug costs.
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It also works in the other direction: when you apply to Social Security for Extra Help, Social Security forwards your information to Arkansas as a Medicare Savings Program lead unless you decline that on the form.
Arkansas Prescription Help Beyond Medicare
NONE. — Arkansas runs its own drug-cost program for seniors alongside Extra Help. Ask The application goes to the Arkansas Department of Human Services, through its Division of County Operations, not to Medicare or Social Security. or the SHIP whether you qualify for both.
How to Apply for the Arkansas Medicare Savings Program
Where: The application goes to the Arkansas Department of Human Services, through its Division of County Operations, not to Medicare or Social Security. — application. Free help: The free counseling program is the Arkansas Senior Health Insurance Information Program, usually written as AR SHIIP, and it is housed at the Arkansas Insurance Department rather than at DHS..
Bring the Medicare card, proof of all income, and — in states with an asset test — bank statements. A decision usually takes a few weeks; the Part B premium refund appears as a larger Social Security deposit once the change reaches Social Security.
Who Typically Qualifies for the Arkansas Medicare Savings Program
A widow living on one Social Security check. A retired couple whose combined income is modest once one pension stopped. A person under 65 on Medicare through disability. Anyone who receives Supplemental Security Income already qualifies at the top level. Homeowners qualify as easily as renters, because the home is never counted, and in the states without an asset test savings are not counted either.
The Arkansas Medicare Savings Program Calendar
New federal poverty guidelines are published in January or February; states adopt the new Arkansas medicare savings program limits in the weeks after, usually by March or April. A person who was just over the limit in December may be under it in April without their income changing. The Part B premium itself changes each January, so the value of the program rises with it. QI funding is allocated by calendar year and can run out; apply early rather than late.
If the Arkansas Medicare Savings Program Application Is Denied
The denial notice states the reason and the deadline to ask for a hearing. The three fixable reasons are missing proof of income, income counted that should have been excluded, and — in asset-test states — a burial fund or life insurance that should not have been counted. Fix the reason and reapply; nothing prevents a second application. The state SHIP will review a denial for free.
The Arkansas Medicare Savings Program Versus Full Medicaid
The program pays Medicare costs; it does not make you a Medicaid patient. You keep your doctors, your Medicare card and your plan. Full Medicaid, with its lower income limit, adds coverage Medicare does not have — long-term care above all. Many people qualify for the Arkansas medicare savings program first and for full Medicaid only later, when care needs and costs rise. The two applications go to the same office.
What to Do Next
If you qualify for an Arkansas medicare savings program, apply before you shop for plans: the premium help changes which Medigap or Advantage plan makes sense. Your SHIP counselor can do both in one visit.
Official Sources
- Arkansas Medicare Savings Programs: https://humanservices.arkansas.gov/divisions-shared-services/county-operations/medicaid-quick-reference-chart/ is the single best state page, because it is the DHS Division of County Operations chart that names QMB, SMB and QI-1 side by side, says what each one pays, and states the retroactive coverage rules. The companion PDF at https://humanservices.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Quick-Reference.pdf carries the same eligibility summary in printable form for a family member to take to a county office.
- The application goes to the Arkansas Department of Human Services, through its Division of County Operations, not to Medicare or Social Security.
- Medicaid.gov spousal impoverishment standards: medicaid.gov
- Medicare.gov Medicare Savings Programs: medicare.gov
This Arkansas medicare savings program guide was checked against the state Medicaid agency, CMS and the statute cited above in September 2026. Figures reset on their own calendars (most on January 1); if a number here disagrees with a notice you received, the notice wins — and please tell us. This page is general information, not legal, financial or medical advice.