Yes, and more people in South Carolina are eligible than claim it. There are two main forms of help, and they do different jobs.

Medicare Savings Programs — help with the Part B premium

These can pay your Medicare Part B premium, which in 2026 is $202.90 a month. Over a year that is more than $2,400 back in your budget. In South Carolina, as in North Carolina and Tennessee, the 2026 monthly income limits for one person are:

  • QMB — $1,330 a month
  • SLMB — $1,596 a month
  • QI — $1,796 a month
  • Resources — up to $9,950

QMB does the most: beyond the premium it can also cover deductibles and coinsurance.

Extra Help — lower prescription costs

Extra Help, sometimes called the Low Income Subsidy, reduces what you pay for Part D prescription drug coverage. For one person in 2026 the limits are $23,940 in income and $18,090 in resources.

That help sits on top of a protection every Part D enrollee already has: in 2026 your out-of-pocket drug costs are capped at $2,100 for the year, rising to $2,400 in 2027. Once you hit the cap you pay nothing more for covered drugs that year.

Why it is worth checking even if you think you earn too much

The income and resource tests do not count everything. Your home and usually your car are not counted as resources. Some income is disregarded. The practical result is that people who assume they are over the line are sometimes under it, and the only way to find out is to have the actual numbers checked rather than estimated.

These figures are screening numbers, not a verdict. Nobody can tell you from a web page whether you will receive help.

The South Carolina context

South Carolina has not expanded Medicaid, so for adults under 65 the picture is different from North Carolina, which did. If you have both Medicare and Medicaid already, South Carolina has four Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans — see what dual eligible means in South Carolina.

What we can and cannot do

The Jordan Insurance Agency does not administer Medicaid or these assistance programmes and cannot enrol you in them. What we can do is tell you where to apply, help you understand how the help interacts with your Medicare choices, and make sure a plan decision is not made before that question is answered.

If you are weighing plans at the same time, Medicare plans in South Carolina sets out the four structures, and how Medicare Supplements work here covers the option people weigh next.