- 1). Calculate your monthly. Your monthly income will include any money that you earn regularly, including income from employment, from a pension, alimony, child support or from social security retirement.
- 2). Calculate roughly what your resources add up to. Your resources include things such as bank accounts, bonds, stocks and any property you own besides your primary home.
- 3). Keep copies of proof of income and resources handy. To apply, you need proof of income over the last four weeks and verification of your resources.
- 4). Compare your calculations to the eligibility guidelines for South Carolina's Medicare savings programs. South Carolina has two programs you should compare with: the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program) and the Specified Low-income Beneficiary (SLMB) program
- 5). Compare first with QMB, the most restrictive of the two programs. QMB is based on 100 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. In the first half of 2010, that means your income should be below $903 if you're an individual or $1,215 if you're married.
- 6). Compare again with the SLMB guidelines which are not based on the federal poverty guidelines, but instead are just slightly higher than QMB. In 2010, you could qualify with an income less than $1,083 if you were single or $1,457 if you were married.
- 7). Compare your resource total to the program's requirements. For both QMB and SLMB, as of August, 2010, you must have less than $4,000 in resources if you are single and less than $6,000 in resources if you are married.
- 8). Apply for the program. Submit an application even if your income falls slightly above the eligibility guidelines. After you submit an application, a caseworker will evaluate it. Some of your income may not be counted, and thus you may qualify after all.
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