Getting Medicare cost help in Brooklyn (Kings County)

The first thing a Brooklyn resident learns when applying for a Medicare Savings Program is that the county is Kings. The second is that there is no "Brooklyn Medicaid office" to call; the city's HRA handles Medicaid for all five boroughs, and the phone line is the same one a person in the Bronx would dial. The third, and the most useful, is that Brooklyn has more in-person HIICAP counseling sites on NYC Aging's citywide list than any other borough, five of them, from downtown to Coney Island.

This page is for people in Brooklyn who have Medicare and want to stop paying more than they need to: a retiree in Bensonhurst whose Part B premium is taken out of a small Social Security check, a couple in Flatbush who were turned down for Medicaid because of savings and never heard that the Medicare Savings Programs have no resource test in New York, a person in Borough Park over 65 paying full price for prescriptions who has never looked at EPIC, or the relative in another borough who is trying to sort it out by phone. It is also for people who already have both Medicare and Medicaid and want to confirm their Medicare premiums are actually being covered.

HRA is the Medicaid agency. Brooklyn does not have a Kings County Department of Social Services. Medicaid applications for people 65 and over, people with disabilities, and people on Medicare go to the NYC Human Resources Administration, and the Medicare Savings Program application (state form DOH-4328) is filed with HRA as well. HRA lists its Brooklyn Medicaid office locations on nyc.gov/hra; this site does not print addresses because they change. The HRA Medicaid Helpline is the phone channel.

NYC Aging runs HIICAP in the city. Call the statewide HIICAP line and say "Brooklyn" or "Kings" when the recording asks for your county. Inside the city the program is delivered by NYC Aging, and Aging Connect can book you at one of the community sites. Brooklyn's sites cluster in the south (Homecrest, Bensonhurst, Coney Island) and downtown (Atlantic Avenue and Wyckoff Street), which leaves parts of central and eastern Brooklyn relying on phone counseling. Phone counseling is the same program with the same training.

Extra Help and EPIC have their own doors. Extra Help is a Social Security application; EPIC is a state application for people 65 and older. A HIICAP counselor can tell you the order that usually makes sense, because being approved for a Medicare Savings Program in New York automatically brings Extra Help with it.

HRA asks applicants for proof of residency, identity, income, and immigration status, and now requires proof of Medicare. For an MSP application from Brooklyn that typically means:

• Medicare card, or the Social Security letter that shows your Medicare start date.
• Photo ID or one of the state's accepted identity documents.
• Income proof: Social Security benefit letter, pension statements, pay stubs, rental income records.
• Proof of a Brooklyn address (lease, utility bill, official mail).
• Citizenship or immigration documents if they cannot be verified electronically.

Because New York applies no resource test to the Medicare Savings Programs, savings account statements are usually not part of an MSP-only application. They are part of a full Medicaid application. Send copies, not originals. If something is missing, HRA generally defers the application and gives you a chance to supply it. Details are on nyc.gov/hra.

For orientation only: Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park; NYC Health + Hospitals / Kings County in East Flatbush; NYC Health + Hospitals / Coney Island near Brighton Beach; NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn in Sunset Park; NYC Health + Hospitals / Woodhull on the Williamsburg and Bed-Stuy line; Interfaith Medical Center; and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center. None of these is a Medicaid or Medicare office.