Work out your 2026 Medicare premiums including the income-related adjustment, with the deductibles owed before any of it pays and the income cliffs shown.
Your numbers
What Medicare costs you in 2026
Premiums, the income adjustment that rides on top of them, and the deductibles owed before any of it pays.
2026 RATES
CMS published Part A and Part B premiums and deductiblesmedicare-2026-cms-2025-11-verified2026-09-05
$Adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest, from 2024. Your 2026 premium is set from that year, not this one.
Filing separately while married uses a much steeper ladder than either of the other two.
Forty quarters is ten years and makes Part A free. A spouse's record can qualify you on its own.
Part D IRMAA is owed only if you have a Part D or Medicare Advantage drug plan. A $0-premium plan still owes it.
$What the plan charges before any income adjustment. $0 is a real premium on some plans and still owes the adjustment.
Medigap, or a part year
Only if they apply to you
$A supplement is priced by its insurer and appears in no federal table, so enter what you are quoted.
Twelve for a full year. Deductibles are not prorated with a shorter period.
Monthly premium total
$242.90$2,914.80 over 12 months · standard premium
No income adjustment
Your 2024 income is below the first threshold, so the standard $202.90 Part B premium applies.
The next rung starts above $109,000, which is $34,000 away. Crossing it by a single dollar costs $1,148.40 for a full year: this is a cliff, not a taper.
Each spouse enrolled in Medicare pays their own adjustment, so a couple filing jointly can pay it twice. Retirement or another life-changing event can be reported on form SSA-44 to have a later year used instead.
Part B premium$202.90Standard premium
Part A premiumFree40+ quarters of Medicare-taxed work
Owed before cover pays$283Part B a year, plus $1,736 per hospital benefit period
The 2024 income ladder for your filing status
2024 income
Part B / month
Drug adjustment
Up to $109,000 · you
$202.90
—
Over $109,000
$284.10
+$14.50
Over $137,000
$405.80
+$37.50
Over $171,000
$527.50
+$60.40
Over $205,000
$649.20
+$83.30
From $500,000
$689.90
+$91.00
Part B pays 80% of the approved amount after its $283 deductible, and there is no cap on the other 20%. That is what Medigap and Medicare Advantage exist to cover, and why these totals are premiums rather than a cost of care.
How we got this
Part A hospital40 or more quarters of Medicare-taxed workNo premium
Part B medicalStandard premium, no income adjustment$202.90
Drug coverageYour entered plan premium$40.00
Monthly premium total$2,914.80 across twelve months$242.90
Before any of it paysPart B annual deductible, plus $1,736 per hospital benefit period$283
What we assumed
Your 2024 income is below the first adjustment threshold, so the standard premium applies. The next rung starts above $109,000.
These are 2026 premiums and deductibles from the published CMS tables. They are not a bill, and enrolling, plan availability, and any late-enrollment penalty are decided by Medicare and SSA.
Income-related adjustments for 2026 are set from the modified adjusted gross income on your 2024 return, which is adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest. Today's income does not change this year's premium.
The adjustment is a cliff, not a taper: one dollar over a threshold applies the whole next step for the year. Each spouse on Medicare pays their own adjustment, so a couple filing jointly can pay it twice.
A life-changing event such as retirement, the death of a spouse, or a work stoppage can be reported on form SSA-44 to have a more recent year used instead. SSA decides that, not this calculator.
Part A is premium-free with 40 quarters of Medicare-taxed work. The premiums shown for fewer quarters are the voluntary-enrollment amounts, and a spouse’s work record can qualify you without your own.
The Part A deductible is per benefit period, not per year: a new hospital stay more than 60 days after the last one starts a new one, so it can be owed more than once in a year.
Part B pays 80% of the approved amount after its annual deductible, and the remaining 20% has no cap. A total cost of care cannot be produced from these tables, which is why only premiums and deductibles are totalled here.
Drug plan and Medigap premiums are whatever the insurer charges and are entered by you. Any income adjustment on Part D is added to your plan premium and paid separately, usually to Medicare rather than the plan.
Medicare Advantage replaces the way Parts A and B pay rather than the Part B premium, which is still owed. Its own premium, network, and cost sharing are outside these tables.
Medicaid, a Medicare Savings Program, Extra Help, employer retiree coverage, and state pharmaceutical assistance can all reduce these amounts and are not modelled.
A hospital stay adds $1,736 per benefit period, then $434 a day from day 61 and $868 a day for the 60 lifetime reserve days. A skilled nursing stay costs $217 a day for days 21 to 100. None of these are premiums, and none are included above.
Guide
What Medicare costs in 2026, and where the income cliffs fall
Most people pay the standard Part B premium and never think about it again. The ones who get caught out are those whose income two years ago crossed a threshold they did not know existed, because the surcharge that follows is a cliff rather than a slope and it is set from a tax return that can no longer be changed. This page applies the published CMS tables and shows both: what you pay, and how close you are to paying more.
Your 2026 premium was decided in 2024
The income-related monthly adjustment amount, IRMAA, is set from the modified adjusted gross income on the tax return you filed two years earlier: adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest. For 2026 premiums that is the 2024 return. If SSA cannot get it, they use 2023 instead.
This catches people in the year they retire, and in the year they take a large one-off gain. A Roth conversion, a house sale, or an inherited account can lift income for one year and raise premiums two years later, long after the money is spent. The lag is the whole difficulty, and it is not discretionary.
A cliff, not a taper
Each rung applies in full as soon as income passes its threshold. There is no phase-in: one dollar of income over a line can add hundreds of dollars across the year, on Part B and on drug coverage at the same time. The distance to your next threshold is shown for exactly this reason.
The boundaries are not all read the same way either. CMS prints most rungs as "more than" a figure, so income exactly at it stays on the lower rung, but the top rung as "greater than or equal to", so income exactly at that one moves up. This page carries each rule as printed rather than assuming they match.
It is charged per person
A married couple both on Medicare each pay their own adjustment, calculated from the same joint income. The household cost is therefore double the figure on any single-person table, which is a common and expensive surprise.
Filing separately while married uses a far steeper ladder: it jumps from no adjustment straight to the second-highest rung, with nothing in between. Couples who file separately for unrelated reasons often do not discover this until the premium arrives.
When the income year is wrong, say so
If income fell because of a life-changing event, SSA will use a more recent year. The qualifying events are specific: marriage, divorce, death of a spouse, you or your spouse stopping or reducing work, loss of an income-producing property, loss of a pension, or an employer settlement payment. Form SSA-44 is how you ask.
Retirement is the common one and it is worth acting on promptly, because the adjustment is otherwise charged against the working income of two years ago for a full year of retirement. A one-off capital gain, by contrast, is not a life-changing event and generally cannot be appealed away.
What premiums do not cover
Part B pays 80% of the approved amount after its annual deductible, and the other 20% has no ceiling at all. That single fact is why Medigap policies and Medicare Advantage plans exist, and why no honest calculator turns Original Medicare into a total cost of care.
The Part A hospital deductible is per benefit period rather than per year, so a second hospital stay more than sixty days after the first starts a new one and is owed again. Skilled nursing coinsurance, hospital day-61 coinsurance, and lifetime reserve days sit on top of everything above and are listed separately here rather than folded into a total that would be wrong.
Questions about this calculator
How much does Medicare cost per month in 2026?
The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month, and Part A is free for anyone with 40 quarters of Medicare-taxed work. On top of that sit any drug plan or Medigap premium you choose, and an income-related adjustment if your 2024 income was above the first threshold. Enter your figures to total them.
What is IRMAA and will I pay it?
It is the income-related monthly adjustment amount, a surcharge on Part B and Part D for higher incomes. For 2026 it starts above $109,000 of modified adjusted gross income for a single filer and $218,000 for a couple filing jointly, measured on the 2024 return. Below those figures you pay the standard premium.
Why is my premium based on income from two years ago?
Because SSA sets premiums before the year begins and uses the most recent return the IRS has verified, which is two years back. It means a high-income year follows you into premiums long afterwards, and that a drop in income does not lower your premium until two years later unless you file form SSA-44 for a life-changing event.
Can I get the surcharge removed after I retire?
Often yes. Stopping or reducing work is one of the life-changing events SSA accepts on form SSA-44, and retirement is the most common reason people file it. Provide evidence of the reduced income and SSA will use a more recent year. A one-off capital gain is not a qualifying event.
Do my spouse and I each pay the surcharge?
Yes. It is charged per enrolled person, calculated from your joint income, so a couple who are both on Medicare pay it twice. Doubling the figure from any single-person table is the right way to budget for a couple.
Is Part A really free?
It is premium-free with 40 quarters of Medicare-taxed work, which is ten years, and a spouse’s record can qualify you on its own. With 30 to 39 quarters it is $311 a month for 2026, and with fewer than 30 it is $565. Free refers to the premium: the hospital deductible is owed regardless, per benefit period.
What does the Part B deductible cover?
It is $283 for 2026, paid once in the year before Part B starts paying. After it, Part B pays 80% of the Medicare-approved amount for covered services and you pay the remaining 20% with no annual limit, which is the gap Medigap and Medicare Advantage are designed to close.
Does Medicare Advantage replace the Part B premium?
No. Medicare Advantage changes how Parts A and B deliver and pay for care, but the Part B premium is still owed, plus any premium the plan itself charges. Some plans pay part of the Part B premium back, which is a plan feature rather than a change to the underlying rules.
Terms used here
IRMAA
Income-related monthly adjustment amount: a surcharge added to Part B and Part D premiums for higher incomes.
MAGI
For Medicare, adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest, taken from the return filed two years earlier.
Benefit period
Starts on hospital admission and ends after 60 days out. The Part A deductible is owed once per benefit period, not once per year.
Quarters of coverage
Calendar quarters of Medicare-taxed work. Forty makes Part A premium-free.
Lifetime reserve days
Sixty extra hospital days usable once across a lifetime, at a higher daily coinsurance.
Form SSA-44
The form for asking SSA to use a more recent year’s income after a life-changing event.
Medigap
A private supplement that covers gaps in Original Medicare, priced by its insurer rather than by any federal table.
Practical tips
Check your two-years-back income against the thresholds before a Roth conversion or a property sale, not after.
File form SSA-44 as soon as you retire rather than waiting for the higher premium to arrive.
Budget the surcharge twice for a couple who are both enrolled; it is charged per person from the same joint income.
If you file separately while married, check the separate ladder: it skips straight to the second-highest rung.
Limits and caveats
These are published premiums and deductibles, not a bill. Enrollment, plan availability, and any late-enrollment penalty are decided by Medicare and SSA.
The 20% Part B coinsurance has no annual cap, so no total cost of care can be produced from these tables.
Drug plan and Medigap premiums are set by insurers and are entered by you; they appear in no federal table.
Medicaid, Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help, employer retiree coverage, and state pharmaceutical assistance can all reduce these amounts and are not modelled.
Rounding, versioning, and omissions that sit beside the guide rather than repeating it.
Premiums come from a return you already filed. The 2026 income-related adjustment is set from the modified adjusted gross income on your 2024 return: adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest. Nothing you earn this year changes this year's premium, and nothing you did in 2024 can be changed now.
The adjustment is a cliff, not a taper. Each rung applies in full the moment income passes its threshold. A single dollar over can cost hundreds of dollars across the year, and the amount does not phase in. The distance to your next threshold and what crossing it would cost are both shown, because that is the part a premium table never says.
Each boundary is read the way CMS prints it. Most rungs are "more than" a threshold, so income exactly at the figure stays on the lower rung. The top rung is "greater than or equal to", so income exactly at it moves up. Those two readings differ at the boundary, and the snapshot carries the rule per rung rather than assuming one.
Premiums are totalled, care is not. Part B pays 80% of the approved amount after its annual deductible, and the remaining 20% has no ceiling. No published table can turn that into a yearly cost, so this totals premiums and deductibles and says plainly where the arithmetic stops.
Calculation receipt
What each number here is
This answer is built from published figures. Each one is named below, with the release it came from.
VERIFIEDCMS Medicare premiums and IRMAA brackets
Sets the figures this answer is made of. Without it the page says so rather than estimating.
If a source above is unavailable or out of date: Part B and Part D amounts, the deductibles and the IRMAA brackets are set by CMS for the year. None can be derived.