Medicare Plans in Arkansas: Coverage and Costs (2026)

If you're turning 65 in Arkansas or helping a family member sort out Medicare, you're looking at four parts, dozens of plan choices, and costs that reset every January. The standard Part B premium for 2026 is $202.90 a month, the Part D out-of-pocket cap is now $2,100, and free help is available through the state's Arkansas SHIIP counseling program.

This guide walks through every piece of Medicare as it works for Arkansans in 2026, what it costs, the plan landscape in this state, and how to get help paying for it.1,2,3

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• Original Medicare: Parts A and B
• Medicare Advantage Plans in Arkansas (Part C)
• Medicare Part D: Prescription Drugs
• Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Plans in Arkansas
• Help Paying for Medicare in Arkansas
• Medicare Enrollment Periods
• Free Medicare Help: Arkansas SHIIP
• Frequently Asked Questions

About these numbers: The premiums and deductibles below come from CMS for calendar year 2026, effective January 1. Medicare costs reset every January, so check the current-year figures against CMS or medicare.gov before you budget.1 To talk to a person about your own situation, call 1-800-633-4227 (1-800-MEDICARE), staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week except some federal holidays; TTY users call 1-877-486-2048.6 Arkansas SHIIP counselors can also sit down with you for free.

Original Medicare: Parts A and B

Original Medicare is run directly by the federal government and comes in two parts.

Part A (Hospital Insurance)

Part A covers inpatient hospital stays, limited skilled nursing facility care, hospice, and some home health care.1

The hospital deductible resets each benefit period.1 A benefit period starts when you're admitted and ends once you've gone 60 days in a row without inpatient hospital care or skilled care in a nursing facility. A readmission after that gap triggers a new deductible.

Part B (Medical Insurance)

Part B covers doctor visits, outpatient care, preventive services, durable medical equipment, and mental health care. It does not cover routine dental, vision, or hearing.1,7

• Monthly premium: $202.90 (higher if your income exceeds $109,000 single or $218,000 married, under the income-related adjustment)1
• Annual deductible: $283
• After the deductible: you pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for most services

Part B is optional in name only. Nearly everyone enrolls. Delay past your initial window without qualifying for a Special Enrollment Period or a Medicare Savings Program and you owe a late penalty of 10% for every 12 months you could have had it, permanently added to your premium.8

Medicare Advantage Plans in Arkansas (Part C)

Medicare Advantage plans are an alternative to Original Medicare, sold by private insurers. They cover everything Parts A and B do, except hospice, which Original Medicare keeps covering. Most bundle Part D drug coverage along with extras like dental, vision, and hearing.4

Plan availability in Arkansas varies sharply by geography. The Little Rock, Fort Smith, and Fayetteville-Springdale metros have the widest selection, with multiple carriers competing. Rural counties, particularly in the Delta and the Ouachita Mountains, typically have fewer plans and in some areas only one or two options. Use the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov to see exactly which plans are available in your ZIP code.

How These Plans Work

• You keep paying your Part B premium ($202.90) on top of any plan premium, though many plans charge $0 extra. Some plans go further and help pay all or part of your Part B premium.4,1
• Plans run on networks (HMO, PPO, or HMO-POS). Confirm your doctors are in-network before you enroll, and note that most plans require prior authorization for some services, which Original Medicare generally does not.
• Every plan caps your annual out-of-pocket spending. Original Medicare has no such cap on its own, and CMS's sentence adds the condition: no yearly limit on what you pay out of pocket unless you have supplemental coverage, like Medigap, Medicaid, employer, retiree, or union coverage. What each covers varies by policy. The federal maximum for in-network Medicare Advantage spending is $9,250 in 2026, and many plans set lower caps.4
• Extras vary widely. Compare the dental, vision, hearing, and transportation benefits, not just the premium.

If your current plan leaves your area for 2026, you get a Special Enrollment Period to pick a new one.9 Enter your doctors and prescriptions into the Plan Finder and it shows which plans cover them and your estimated annual cost.

Medicare Part D: Prescription Drugs

Part D covers outpatient prescription drugs. You can get it as a standalone plan paired with Original Medicare, or bundled into a Medicare Advantage plan.

The Inflation Reduction Act eliminated the old coverage gap (the donut hole), so that higher-cost middle stage is gone.2 Part D now moves through three phases:

1. Deductible: you pay full price until you meet your plan's deductible (up to $615 in 2026).10
2. Initial coverage: you pay copays or coinsurance while your plan and drug makers cover the rest.
3. Catastrophic: once your out-of-pocket spending reaches $2,100, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the year.2

That $2,100 cap is the number that matters most. The average standalone Part D premium for 2026 is about $34.50 a month, though actual plan premiums vary by plan and county.1 Every plan must also offer the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which lets you spread your out-of-pocket drug costs into capped monthly payments across the year instead of paying in full at the pharmacy.2 People who qualify for Extra Help often pay much less, sometimes nothing.

Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Plans in Arkansas

Medigap is extra insurance you buy from a private insurer to help pay your share of out-of-pocket costs in Original Medicare.11 It pairs with Original Medicare only: a Medigap policy can't pay your Medicare Advantage copayments, coinsurance, deductibles, or premiums, and while you're in an Advantage plan it's illegal for anyone to sell you one unless you're switching back to Original Medicare.11 In Arkansas, these policies are regulated by the Arkansas Insurance Department.

Medigap plans are standardized by letter. Medicare's 2026 Choosing a Medigap Policy guide charts them as Plans A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N, and states that every insurance company that sells Medigap policies must offer at least Plan A.5 Plans C and F are no longer available to people new to Medicare, meaning people who turned 65 on or after January 1, 2020 and get Part A on or after that date; they have the right to buy Plans D and G instead.5 Plan G covers the same benefits as Plan F except the annual Part B deductible: it pays the Part A deductible, Part A and Part B coinsurance, and skilled nursing facility coinsurance, leaving the Part B deductible to you.5

When Arkansas Guarantees You a Medigap Policy

Your strongest opening is the federal Medigap Open Enrollment Period, the six months that begin the first month you're 65 and enrolled in Part B. During that window an insurer can't refuse to sell you any Medigap policy it offers and can't charge you more because you have health problems.5 Arkansas rule 23 CAR § 89-113 sets the same six-month open enrollment period in state rules.5

Arkansas also protects some people under 65. Arkansas rule 23 CAR § 89-127 requires at least one of the ten standardized Medicare supplement plans an issuer currently offers to be made available to applicants who have Medicare by reason of disability.5 For those applicants, the Arkansas rule bars an insurer from denying or conditioning a policy because of health status, claims experience, receipt of health care, or medical condition when the application is submitted during the six months beginning with the first month the person first enrolled in Part B.5 Someone who already has Part B still gets a Medigap Open Enrollment Period on turning 65.5

After those windows, Arkansas rule 23 CAR § 89-114 guarantees certain Medigap policies to eligible people in listed coverage-loss situations, including an ending employer plan, a Medicare Advantage plan that is terminated or stops serving your area, Medigap coverage that ends involuntarily, and some first-time Medicare Advantage enrollments ended within 12 months.5 In those situations the insurer can't deny the policy, price it based on your health, or impose a pre-existing condition exclusion, as long as you apply during the guaranteed issue period and submit evidence of the termination or disenrollment date with the application.5 When an employer plan ends, that period closes 63 days after the later of the termination notice or the date the coverage ends.5

Unless one of those guaranteed-issue situations applies, outside the Medigap Open Enrollment Period an insurer is allowed to deny you a policy if you don't meet its medical underwriting requirements, and you may pay more for a policy.12 The choice you make in those first six months carries real weight.

Medigap or Medicare Advantage?

You can't run the two together.11 Choose Medigap and you stay on Original Medicare, with the policy helping pay your share of its out-of-pocket costs. Choose Medicare Advantage and a Medigap policy can't pay that plan's copayments, coinsurance, deductibles, or premiums.11 The door back isn't sealed, though. If you join a Medicare Advantage plan for the first time and aren't happy with it, a federal trial right lets you buy a Medigap policy and a separate Medicare drug plan if you return to Original Medicare within 12 months of joining.11 Arkansas rule 23 CAR § 89-114 also lists among those guaranteed a Medigap policy people who dropped a Medigap policy to enroll for the first time in a Medicare Advantage plan and ended that enrollment within the first 12 months.5 In most cases, though, if you drop your Medigap policy to join a Medicare Advantage plan, you may not be able to get the same policy back, so weigh that trade carefully before your open enrollment window closes.11

Help Paying for Medicare in Arkansas

Two programs can significantly reduce Medicare costs for people on fixed incomes.

Medicare Savings Programs

Arkansas runs its Medicare Savings Programs through Arkansas DHS Medicare Savings Programs, administered by the state's county operations offices. They pay some or all of your Medicare premiums and cost-sharing based on your income and resources.13

QMB is the most generous program: it covers your Part B premium plus your deductibles and coinsurance, which can add up to thousands of dollars in savings over a year. Federal law also bars providers from billing a QMB enrollee for that Medicare cost-sharing. Arkansas applies the standard federal MSP resource limit: $9,950 for one person and $14,910 for a couple in 2026. Which of your resources Arkansas counts toward that figure is not something DHS or the federal tables set out, so don't assume a house, a car, or a burial fund is excluded, and don't assume it counts either. A DHS county office is the only place that can settle it for your household. Neither the income bands nor the resource limit is a self-screening cutoff: states may effectively raise the federal limits by disregarding certain income and resources, so file at a DHS county office rather than assume you're disqualified. Income limits update annually with the federal poverty level. Arkansas's own published charts also lag the current federal number, so if you're close to the line, ask a county worker what standard they're applying today. To apply, file at your local DHS county office.13

Extra Help for Part D

Extra Help, also called the Low-Income Subsidy, pays Part D premiums, deductibles, and copays for people with limited income and resources. Since 2024, the partial-subsidy tier is gone, so everyone who qualifies now receives the full subsidy.

• Income limit: about $1,995 a month for an individual, $2,705 for a couple (150% FPL) in the 48 contiguous states and DC; Alaska and Hawaii are higher14
• Resource limits: $16,590 for an individual, $33,100 for a married couple, or $18,090 and $36,100 if you tell Social Security you expect to use some of your resources for burial expenses14
• If you qualify for QMB, SLMB, or QI, you're automatically enrolled in Extra Help13
• QDWI, the Medicare Savings Program for people who lost premium-free Part A after returning to work, pays the Part A premium but does not carry Extra Help with it, so a QDWI enrollee has to apply to Social Security for Extra Help separately13,14

Apply through Social Security at ssa.gov or call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778).15 Arkansas SHIIP screens people for Extra Help too, and its counselors can walk you through the application.14,3

Medicare Enrollment Periods

Miss a deadline and you can face coverage gaps or permanent penalties. These dates are federal and the same in Arkansas as in every other state.16

Changes made during Annual Open Enrollment take effect January 1 of the following year. If you miss your Initial Enrollment Period, a Part B penalty applies unless you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period or a Medicare Savings Program, and a Part D penalty applies unless you had creditable drug coverage or qualify for Extra Help.16,8 Be careful about what opens that Part B Special Enrollment Period: it comes from group health coverage based on your own or a spouse's current employment, and it ends eight months after that coverage or the employment ends, whichever happens first. COBRA and retiree coverage don't count as current-employment coverage, so the day one of those ends you get no Part B Special Enrollment Period at all.16

Free Medicare Help: Arkansas SHIIP

You don't have to sort this out alone, and you shouldn't pay a broker to help. Arkansas SHIIP (Senior Health Insurance Information Program) is the state's free Medicare counseling service, run by the Arkansas Insurance Department and staffed by certified counselors throughout Arkansas.3 The help costs you nothing, whichever way you decide to go.

A certified SHIIP counselor, by phone or in person, can help you:

• Understand your Medicare options and what each part covers
• Compare Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement (Medigap), and Part D plans side by side
• Get screened for Extra Help with prescription drug costs, and work through SHIIP's Medicare Savings Program guide3
• Connect with Arkansas's Senior Medicare Patrol, the ACL-funded program that helps beneficiaries and families prevent, detect, and report suspected Medicare fraud, errors, and abuse17

Find your counselor through the Arkansas Insurance Department's SHIIP page at insurance.arkansas.gov/consumer-assistance/medicare-resources/shiip/. The department's own SHIIP pages don't print a phone number; CMS's Medicare & You 2026 handbook lists Arkansas SHIIP at 1-800-224-6330.3

Learn More

Find personalized help with Medicare in Arkansas at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.