Jamie + Linda: “I’m having to put groceries on the credit card now.”

Jamie (age 83) and Linda (age 76) always relied on Vermont’s Medicare Savings Program to pay their Medicare Part B premiums. That is until they received a Social Security cost-of-living adjustment in 2023 which put them $18 over the income limit. Jamie described what happened next:

“... That disqualifies you for Medicare premium [help] and you’re talking between the two of us, $330 [in monthly Medicare premiums] and then… in March, we got a $130 increase in our rent.”

Like many Vermonters, Jamie and his wife are now wrestling with the impact of the Medicare benefits cliff, as well as an increase in other basic living expenses.

Over the past decade, the state and federal government expanded programs to lower health insurance costs for people under age 65 who did not have a disability. People with Medicare (seniors and younger people with a disability) were largely forgotten – the Medicare Savings Program and Medicaid for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled continue to rely on eligibility requirements that were created decades ago.

A 2022 Justice in Aging report explains “Medicaid programs across the country continue to use outdated and overly stringent eligibility criteria that force older adults and people with disabilities relying on the program to live in deep poverty in order to gain access to care.”

Jamie reflects on their expenses: “Linda’s dentist bills were $5,000 - $6,000 and we had to put them on the credit card… so you know between that and car insurance and health insurance and my insurance for when I kick the bucket… that all puts a bind in everything. And I’m having to put groceries on the credit card now.”

Other states have increased the income eligibility limit for their Medicare Savings Program. If Jamie and Linda lived in nearby Maine, Massachusetts, New York, or Connecticut, they would qualify to have their Medicare Part B premiums paid by the Medicare Savings Program.

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