SLMB, the Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary program
SLMB pays the Medicare Part B premium — $202.90 a month in 2026, $2,434.80 over a year — for people whose income is above the QMB limit but below 120% of the poverty guideline. It stops there: deductibles and coinsurance are QMB’s job, not SLMB’s. The harder problem with SLMB is usually finding it, because 12 states call it something else.
The 2026 limits
| Where you live | Monthly income, one person | Married couple | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 48 states and DC120% FPL + $20 | $1,616 | $2,184 | $9,950 / $14,910 |
| Alaska | $2,015 | $2,725 | $9,950 / $14,910 |
| Hawaii | $1,856 | $2,509 | $9,950 / $14,910 |
POMS HI 00815.023: Medicare Savings Programs income and resource limits, TN 64, February 2026. SLMB has a floor as well as a ceiling: someone below the QMB limit of $1,350 is considered for QMB, which pays more.
What your state calls it
This is the practical obstacle. Of the 51 states checked against their own Medicaid agency, 12 publish SLMB under another name. A search for “SLMB” on those state sites returns nothing, and the reasonable conclusion — that the state does not run it — is wrong.
| State | What it is called there | Monthly income, one person |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | SMB | $1,596 |
| Idaho | SLMB I | $1,616 |
| Illinois | SLIB | $1,596 |
| Kansas | LMB | not published |
| Michigan | SLM | $1,616 |
| Minnesota | Service Limited Medicare Beneficiaries | $1,616 |
| Missouri | SLMB1 | $1,596 |
| New Mexico | SLIMB | $1,596 |
| North Carolina | MQB-B | $1,596 |
| Oregon | SMB | $1,596 |
| Virginia | Special Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary | $1,616 |
| West Virginia | SLIMB | not published |
Each state name links to the agency page the name and figure came from.
Where SLMB is not a programme you can look up
4 states have stopped running SLMB as its own programme, and one more runs it without publishing a figure for it. Both leave a reader with nothing to look up, for different reasons.
- Maine — does not run SLMB as a separate programme; its bands absorb it. Its bands run to 250% of the poverty guideline, well beyond where SLMB would sit.
- New York — does not run SLMB as a separate programme; its bands absorb it. Its QMB limit alone reaches $1,856 a month, past where the federal SLMB band ends, so there is nothing left for a separate programme to cover.
- Rhode Island — does not run SLMB as a separate programme; its bands absorb it. Its bands run to 168% of the poverty guideline, well beyond where SLMB would sit.
- Vermont — does not run SLMB as a separate programme; its bands absorb it. Its bands run to 202% of the poverty guideline, well beyond where SLMB would sit.
- Louisiana — runs SLMB, but its flyer prints one combined SLMB and QI ceiling, so no separate SLMB figure is published. That cell is blank above rather than filled in with the QI number.
District of Columbia, Kansas, South Dakota and West Virginia run SLMB but have not published 2026 dollars we could reach, so no figure is shown for them.
States that set the ceiling higher
The federal $1,616 is a floor, not a cap. 3 of the 51 states checked set an SLMB-equivalent ceiling at least five per cent above it:
- Connecticut — $3,073 a month, 190% of the federal figure, and no resource test.
- Massachusetts — $2,993 a month, 185% of the federal figure, and no resource test.
- Indiana — $2,281 a month, 141% of the federal figure.
SLMB carries Extra Help, and Extra Help suspends the Part D penalty
Federal regulation treats anyone eligible for QMB, SLMB or QI as a full-subsidy individual for Part D, so Extra Help follows automatically with no separate application. CMS puts it directly: if your state pays your Part B premium through a savings program, you automatically get Extra Help.
The Part D late enrollment penalty is normally permanent, added to the monthly premium for as long as someone holds Part D coverage. Under 42 CFR 423.780(e) a subsidy-eligible person is not subject to it, so SLMB — which on its face pays one premium — also stops a penalty being charged for as long as the eligibility lasts. It is a waiver for that period rather than a cancellation: if Extra Help ends and 63 days or more pass without creditable coverage, a penalty can be charged again.
How to apply, and what this page is
Applications go to the state Medicaid agency, under whatever name that state uses. An Extra Help application filed with Social Security also starts a savings-program 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, and Social Security is on 1-800-772-1213.
Published rules and figures, each traced to the agency that published them. It is not advice, not an eligibility determination, and not a substitute for applying — the state Medicaid agency decides. If a figure here does not match the agency page it links to, tell us and we will correct it.