Casey Schwarz February 21, 2019
Each year, the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) updates the federal poverty guidelines, which are then
used to determine eligibility for programs including Medicaid, the Low Income
Subsidy for Part D (LIS), and Medicare Savings Programs.
The 2019 guidelines
for the 48 contiguous states and DC* are:
·
$12,490 for a household of 1
·
$16,910 for a household of 2
·
$25,750 for a household of 4
These amounts are
established by federal law, which requires the Secretary of HHS to update them
based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The CPI-U is
a measure of inflation, or the amount that the cost of certain goods and
services has increased over time. The previous poverty guideline amounts are
multiplied by the CPI-U number, then rounded and adjusted for family size.
Some government
programs that rely on the guidelines to determine eligibility use the numbers
directly, while other programs use a percentage multiplier. For example, the
income limit for LIS, which is also called Extra Help, is 138% of the federal
poverty guideline.
Various programs also
have specific rules about how income is counted. For example, for Medicare
Savings Program applications, earned income is calculated at about 50%, so if a
person’s income is largely from wages, they might seem to be over the income
limit for a program but actually qualify. If you or a friend or family member
believe that you might be eligible for a federal program or assistance, or your
income is close to the limits for those programs, Medicare Rights encourages
you to learn more and apply.
*The guidelines for
Alaska and Hawaii are different, and published in a separate chart. In Puerto
Rico and other outlying jurisdictions, Federal programs may use the contiguous
states and DC guidelines or the office that administers the program can use a
different procedure.
https://blog.medicarerights.org/updated-federal-poverty-guidelines-announced/
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