Medicare savings programs are not hard to get, provided a person qualifies. What a person may not know is whether or not he qualifies for them. In order to qualify for the lower cost options, a person has to make under $9 a year and couples need to make under $13,000. Exact guidelines are available on the Medicare.gov website or from your local Social Security office. A qualified Medicare beneficiary needs to go to ssa.gov or his local office to get the forms. Some places, such as Wal-Mart offer Medicare savings accounts which let a person set aside funds to help cover the costs of their prescription drugs. Applying for these programs is usually done in the pharmacy section of the appropriate stores.
Unfortunately, a person not only has to fill out the necessary forms. He must also prove that his resources are under the guidelines. This means providing the cost of assets such as cars, bank accounts and any investments a person might have undertaken. Neither Medicare nor Social Security usually counts homes as part of a person’s overall net worth. An applicant should be sure to check with the necessary office to make sure of this rather than getting in trouble. Once all the paperwork needed to get the decision in, a person should get notice of whether or not he was accepted into a Medicare savings program.
Medicare savings accounts and Medicare savings programs are not the same thing. The accounts are generally handled by private companies that also offer Medigap insurance. A person with limited resources may find that the welfare office in his county can help him sort thing out, although they do not handle the actual Medicare savings program information.