Most people with Medicare have annual incomes under $45,000

Cost can be a serious obstacle to care for millions of people with Medicare. A new Kaiser Family Foundation report finds that half of people with Medicare have annual incomes under $43,200. In 2024, six million people with Medicare were living in poverty, with annual incomes under $15,050.

Health care spending represented 14 percent of income, on average, for people with Medicare. Only five percent of people with Medicare had annual incomes above $170,000.

One quarter of people with Medicare had incomes under $24,600, in 2024. And, 28 percent of people with Medicare had incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Black and Hispanic people with Medicare had even lower incomes. One quarter of Black people with Medicare had incomes under $20,000 and one quarter of Hispanic people with Medicare had incomes under $14,000.

Savings of people with Medicare, on average, are also relatively low. Twenty-five percent of people with Medicare had savings under $19,000 in 2024. People with Medicare who have low incomes and savings might be eligible for a Medicare Savings Program, which can help with premiums and cost-sharing.

Roughly one in four people with Medicare (23 percent) relied on their Social Security benefits–an average of around $20,000–for 90 percent of more of their annual income. One in three (32 percent) relied on Social Security for 75 percent of their income.

Health care costs, including Medicare and supplemental insurance premiums, averaged $6,459 in 2023. In all, health care spending represented more than one third (36 percent) of people’s Social Security income (around $17,700, on average).

More than one in five people with Medicare report facing some medical debt. As a result, 40 percent of them report using up their savings to cover their debt or cutting back on other necessities.

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