Medicare Savings Programs in Michigan

Michigan describes QMB as full-coverage and SLM as limited-coverage QMB, which is a more honest description of the relationship than the federal names give. QMB covers premiums plus deductibles, coinsurance and copayments; SLM covers the Part B premium only. They are the same programme family at different income bands, and Michigan's naming says so.

ALMB stands for Additional Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries. Connecticut independently uses the same initialism for the same programme, and no other state does.

Michigan's asset limits took effect on 1 January 2026 and its income limits on 1 April 2026. For the first three months of the year the two halves of the same test were set by different years' figures. This is commoner than it sounds — several states split the dates — but it means "the 2026 limits" is not a single thing in Michigan, and a figure that is right in May was not right in February.

This is the part a state agency page cannot tell you, because it has only its own figures. We hold all 51.

• Income. Michigan’s QMB limit of $1,350 is the 15th highest of the 46 jurisdictions publishing a comparable figure, at 100% of the federal screening limit. The highest is the District of Columbia at $4,010; most states sit at $1,350 or the bare $1,330 beneath it.
• Resources. Michigan applies the federal resource limits, as most do. 12 jurisdictions apply none at all, and 3 set theirs higher than federal.
• Naming. Michigan renames SLMB to SLM and QI to ALMB. It is one of 19 jurisdictions that rename at least one programme, which is why the federal name may return nothing on a state site.

The full table of all 51 carries every figure with the agency page it came from.

All three programmes carry full Extra Help for Part D automatically — federal regulation treats anyone eligible for QMB, SLMB or QI as a full-subsidy individual, with no separate application. And the Part D late enrollment penalty, which is otherwise permanent, is not charged while someone is subsidy-eligible. Qualifying in Michigan therefore stops a penalty being charged for as long as the eligibility lasts — a waiver for that period rather than a cancellation, since a later gap in coverage without Extra Help can bring one back.

Applications go to MDHHS, using the health care coverage application on MI Bridges — not to Medicare, and not to this site. Applying for Extra Help through Social Security also starts a savings-programme application with the state unless you ask it not to. Free, unbiased help is available from a State Health Insurance Assistance Program counsellor at shiphelp.org.