Medicare Part D

Extra Help Can Ease Medicare Drug Costs in Yukon

YUKON, Okla. — If prescription costs are stretching your budget, there's a federal program worth a close look. It's called Extra Help, sometimes known as the Low-Income Subsidy, or LIS. It helps people with Medicare pay for their Part D prescription drug coverage — including premiums, deductibles, and the price at the pharmacy counter.

A quieter kind of relief for Yukon Medicare households

Extra Help isn't a plan you buy. It's a benefit you qualify for through Social Security and Medicare. And thanks to recent changes, more people now qualify than in years past.

What Extra Help actually does

Extra Help lowers the out-of-pocket costs tied to a Medicare Part D drug plan. For people who qualify, it can reduce or eliminate the plan premium, wipe out the Part D deductible, and cap what you pay for covered prescriptions at the pharmacy.

It works alongside your Part D plan or the drug coverage built into a Medicare Advantage plan. You still enroll in a plan; Extra Help just changes what you pay once you're in one.

This matters more than ever in 2026. Medicare's Part D program now includes a firm out-of-pocket cap of $2,100 per year, and the Part D deductible cannot exceed $615, according to CMS. The old coverage gap — the "donut hole" — was eliminated in 2025, so Part D now has three simpler phases. Extra Help sits on top of those protections and pushes costs down further for people who qualify.

Who qualifies in 2026

Congress expanded Extra Help so that everyone who qualifies now gets the full benefit. The old "partial" tier is gone.

To qualify, you generally need to:

• Have Medicare Part A and/or Part B,
• Live in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia, and
• Have income and resources under the federal limits set each year by Social Security.

The income limit is tied to the federal poverty level, and the resource limit counts things like money in checking, savings, and investments — but not your home, one car, or personal belongings. Because the numbers change each year, the safest place to check the current thresholds is ssa.gov/extrahelp or medicare.gov.

Some people are automatically enrolled in Extra Help. That includes people who have both Medicare and full Medicaid, people who get Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and people enrolled in a Medicare Savings Program through their state. If that's you, you don't need to apply — you should receive a letter from Medicare.

How Yukon residents can apply

Yukon is in Canadian County, and the application process is the same everywhere in Oklahoma. There are three easy ways to apply:

1. Online at ssa.gov/extrahelp. 2. By phone at Social Security, 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). 3. In person at your local Social Security office.

Applying is free, and you can apply any time of year — you don't have to wait for the Annual Enrollment Period. If you're denied, you can appeal, and if your situation changes later (say, a spouse passes away or your income drops), you can reapply.

For one-on-one help walking through the paperwork, Oklahoma's SHIP program — the Senior Health Insurance Counseling Program (SHICP) — offers free, unbiased counseling. You can reach them through the Oklahoma Insurance Department at 1-800-763-2828.

How Extra Help fits with your drug plan

Yukon is in Canadian County, where residents can choose from a range of stand-alone Part D drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage. Extra Help works with either.

A few things to keep in mind:

• If you already have a Part D plan, Extra Help changes what you pay — you don't have to switch plans to use it.
• People with Extra Help get a Special Enrollment Period, meaning you can change your drug plan more often than the general public. This is separate from the standard Annual Enrollment Period (Oct. 15 – Dec. 7) and Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment (Jan. 1 – March 31).
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, a newer option, lets anyone with Part D spread their drug costs out into monthly payments across the year. It doesn't lower the total — Extra Help does that — but it can smooth out big pharmacy bills.

What's new to know for 2026

A few program-level updates are worth remembering as you weigh your options this fall:

• The $2,100 out-of-pocket cap on Part D drug spending applies to everyone with Part D, not just Extra Help recipients.
• The Part D deductible is capped at $615 for 2026.
• IRMAA — the higher-income surcharge on Part B and Part D — begins above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026. Extra Help is aimed at the opposite end of the income scale, but it's a reminder that Medicare costs vary widely based on income.