Income calculator — what programs do I qualify for?
Enter your gross income and household size. We'll show your % of the Federal Poverty Level and every WI / federal program threshold you cross or miss. Pure math, no account, no server round-trip.
MAGI rules of thumb: include wages, Social Security (taxable + non-taxable), pensions, SSDI, unemployment, self-employment net. Don't include SSI, child support, gifts, or VA benefits.
What is “% of Federal Poverty Level”?
The Federal Poverty Level (FPL) is a yearly income figure HHS publishes for each household size — used by Medicaid, Medicare Savings Programs, ACA subsidies, and Extra Help to decide who qualifies. For 2026, the continental-US FPL is $15,650/yr for one person, $21,150/yr for two, and increases by $5,500 per additional person.
Programs set their cutoffs as a percent of FPL. So “100% FPL” means “income at the FPL line for your household size,” “138% FPL” is 38% above that, and so on. We translate your income into that percentage so you can read the program tables directly.
The figure uses gross income (before tax) for most programs, with MAGI adjustments for Marketplace and Medicaid. It does not count assets, home equity, or retirement balances — those have separate tests.
At $24,000/yr for a household of 1, against the 2026 FPL of $15,960/yr for that size.
Where you stand on the program thresholds
Sorted from lowest to highest threshold. Green = your income is at or below the limit. Red = above. The dollar amount in parens shows your distance from the threshold.
- 100%BadgerCare Plus (Adults 19–64)$8,040/yr over
WI's Medicaid for non-elderly adults. Wisconsin didn't expand under the ACA, so the ceiling stops at 100% FPL.
- 100%Medicare Savings Program — QMB$8,040/yr over
Pays Part B premium + Part A/B deductibles + coinsurance. Asset-tested.
- 120%Medicare Savings Program — SLMB$4,848/yr over
Pays Part B premium for 100–120% FPL households.
- 135%Medicare Savings Program — QI$2,454/yr over
Pays Part B premium for 120–135% FPL households.
- 138%ACA Marketplace expansion ceiling (most states)$1,975/yr over
What WI Medicaid would cover if WI had expanded. Adults 100–138% FPL fall into the WI coverage gap and get redirected to the Marketplace instead.
- 150%Extra Help / LIS (federal Part D subsidy)$60/yr over
Federal subsidy. Resource-tested (~$17,600 single / $35,130 couple). Eliminates Part D deductible, caps copays.
- 160%WI SeniorCare Level 1$1,536/yr below
$30/yr fee, no deductible, $5/$15 copays. The cheapest tier of WI's Rx assistance program for 65+.
- 200%BadgerCare Plus — Children (no premium)$7,920/yr below
Children under 19 qualify up to 300% FPL, but families above 200% FPL pay a sliding-scale premium per child.
- 200%WI SeniorCare Level 2a$7,920/yr below
$500 deductible, then $5/$15 copays.
- 240%WI SeniorCare Level 2b$14,304/yr below
$850 deductible, then $5/$15 copays.
- 250%Marketplace CSR (Cost-Sharing Reduction) ceiling$15,900/yr below
Silver-plan deductibles and copays drop substantially below 250% FPL. Above this, you still get APTC but lose CSR.
- 300%BadgerCare Plus — Children (with premium)$23,880/yr below
Children continuously eligible, sliding premium scale.
- 306%BadgerCare Plus — Pregnant residents$24,838/yr below
Plus 12 months continuous postpartum coverage.
- 400%ACA Marketplace subsidy cliff (post-IRA)$39,840/yr below
Above 400% FPL, no premium tax credit. Pre-2025 the IRA prevented this cliff; the enhanced subsidies expired Dec 31 2025.
FPL ≠ MAGI. The thresholds above use the Federal Poverty Level for your household size. The number that DHS / SSA actually calculates is your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI), which has small adjustments. For a one-person household at $1,200–$3,000/mo, FPL and MAGI are usually within 5% of each other — close enough to know which programs to apply for.
Asset tests apply too. QMB / SLMB / QI / EBD Medicaid all have asset limits (~$9,660 single / $14,470 couple for MSP in 2026; lower for EBD). LIS has its own resource test (~$17,600 / $35,130). Income alone doesn't guarantee eligibility.
Run the screener for a real check. Our WI Medicaid screener applies the bands we just listed plus the asset-test soft-down-grades to “need more info” so you don't get a false-positive.