How much will Medicare cost in 2027?

What Part A and Part B Are Projected to Cost in 2027

The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report projects a standard Part B premium of $209.50 a month for 2027, up about 3.25 percent from the 2026 premium of $202.90, which carries a $283 annual deductible. Independent forecasters are less optimistic, publishing estimates in the $215 to $219 range, because the Trustees projection has come in low in past years. Both are projections until CMS publishes the official Part B figures in the fall; in the last two years the notice has come in November, in the middle of the Annual Enrollment Period. Part A is premium free for most people who paid Medicare taxes for at least 40 quarters; what you pay is the inpatient hospital deductible, $1,736 in 2026, with the 2027 amount also announced in the fall. One protection to know: for most people already receiving Social Security, a federal hold harmless rule keeps the dollar increase in the Part B premium from exceeding the dollar increase in their benefit, though it does not cover everyone. The cost you control is the plan you choose during enrollment.

What a Hospital Stay Is Projected to Cost Under Part A in 2027

Part A charges most people no premium, but it does charge a deductible for each benefit period, and that deductible covers the first 60 days in the hospital. In 2026 it is $1,736, an official figure. For 2027 the Medicare Trustees project $1,788, a projected amount that CMS has not yet announced. From day 61 through day 90 you pay a daily coinsurance: $434 in 2026, and the projected figure for 2027 is $447. After day 90 you move onto lifetime reserve days, at $868 a day in 2026, with a projected $894 for 2027. If you go from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility, days 21 through 100 cost $217 a day in 2026, and the projected 2027 figure is $223.50. None of the 2027 figures is final yet. A supplement or a Medicare Advantage plan can absorb much of this, which is the review worth doing before December 7.

The 2027 IRMAA Brackets Are Not Out Yet, but the 2026 Table Is Official

Not yet. As of today CMS has not published the IRMAA income brackets for 2027, so any 2027 table you see online is a private calculation and not an official figure. What is official is the 2026 table. A single filer with income up to $109,000, or a couple filing jointly with up to $218,000, pays the standard Part B premium of $202.90 a month. Up to $137,000 single or $274,000 joint, the premium is $284.10. Up to $171,000 or $342,000, $405.80. Up to $205,000 or $410,000, $527.50. From there up to but not including $500,000 or $750,000, $649.20. And from $500,000 or $750,000 upward, $689.90. One thing is fixed by law for 2027: that top bracket of $500,000 and $750,000 does not move until 2028, when it begins to adjust for inflation. If your 2025 income landed near a bracket edge, it is worth talking through before the official figures arrive.

Part D Drug Costs for 2027 Are Already Set

Unlike Part A and Part B, the 2027 Part D figures are not projections. CMS finalized them in the Contract Year 2027 Rate Announcement released on April 6, 2026. The standard Part D deductible rises to $700 in 2027, up from $615 in 2026. The annual out of pocket cap on covered prescription drugs rises to $2,400, up from $2,100 in 2026. That cap is the hard ceiling created by the Inflation Reduction Act: once your out of pocket spending on covered drugs reaches it, you pay nothing more for those drugs for the rest of the calendar year, and what you spend meeting the deductible counts toward it. The base beneficiary premium, the national figure that plans build their own premiums around, rises from $38.99 in 2026 to $41.33 in 2027, an increase of about 6 percent. Separately, the temporary Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration that held standalone drug plan premiums down through 2025 and 2026 ends on December 31, 2026, which for many people matters more than the base premium change itself. What none of these numbers tell you is your own premium. Plans set their own premiums, deductibles, and formularies within the federal rules, and those vary widely by county and by carrier. The only way to know your 2027 drug cost is to run your actual medication list against the plans available at your ZIP code, which is exactly what a licensed agent does with you at no charge.

If Your Income Is Higher, IRMAA Changes the Answer

The standard premium is not what everyone pays. If your modified adjusted gross income is above a federal threshold, you pay an income related monthly adjustment amount, known as IRMAA, on top of both your Part B premium and your Part D premium. Two details catch people out. First, Medicare uses a two year lookback, so your 2027 surcharge is determined by the income on your 2025 tax return, a return you have already filed. Second, IRMAA is a cliff rather than a slope. One dollar over a threshold moves you into the higher bracket for the entire year. In 2026 the first threshold is $109,000 for a single filer and $218,000 for a married couple filing jointly, and the thresholds are adjusted for inflation each year. CMS confirms the 2027 thresholds in the fall alongside the Part B premium, and in the last two years that notice has come in November, so anyone sitting near a bracket edge should treat any published 2027 bracket table as an estimate. If your income has dropped since 2025 because of a life changing event, with retirement being the most common one, you can ask Social Security to use your current income instead by filing Form SSA-44. That is worth doing, and it is one of the questions worth asking before you assume a surcharge is permanent.

What a Medicare Advantage Plan Will Cost in 2027

A Medicare Advantage plan advertised at $0 a month is not free coverage. You keep paying the Part B premium every month, projected at $209.50 for 2027, and any plan premium is charged on top of that. The number that decides what a bad health year actually costs you is not the premium, it is the plan's annual out of pocket maximum. Federal rules cap how high that maximum can go. For 2027, CMS set the ceiling at $9,850 in network for HMO and HMO POS plans, and $14,800 combined in and out of network for local and regional PPOs, up from $9,250 and $13,900 in 2026. Those are ceilings, not typical amounts. Plans may set a lower limit and most do, and a 2027 plan at or below $4,450 in network sits in the lowest tier CMS recognizes. Original Medicare on its own has no out of pocket maximum at any amount, which is the comparison that actually matters when you weigh a Medicare Advantage plan against Original Medicare with a supplement. These limits come from the final Contract Year 2027 Part C bid review guidance CMS issued on April 22, 2026.

If You Cannot Afford These Costs, These Programs Exist

Two federal programs cut Medicare costs for people with limited income, and both are badly underused because people assume they will not qualify. Extra Help, also called the Part D Low Income Subsidy, pays your drug plan premium and your drug deductible in full. In 2026 it holds each prescription to no more than $5.10 for a generic and $12.65 for a brand name drug, drops your cost to $0 for covered drugs once total drug costs reach $2,100, and holds it to $4.90 per covered drug if you also have full Medicaid through the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program. For 2027 those amounts rise to $5.80 for a generic and $14.40 for a brand name drug, with the $0 point moving to $2,400 and the full Medicaid group paying $1.65 for a generic and $5.00 for a brand name drug, all set by CMS in its April 6, 2026 Rate Announcement. While you have Extra Help you owe no Part D late enrollment penalty at all. For 2026 the limits are income up to $23,940 and countable resources up to $18,090 for one person, and $32,460 and $36,100 for a married couple living together. Your home, one car, your burial plot, up to $1,500 set aside for burial expenses, and your furniture and personal belongings do not count as resources. These limits are adjusted every year, so the 2027 figures will be published higher. You qualify automatically, with no application at all, if you have full Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, or a Medicare Savings Program paying your Part B premium. Otherwise you apply free through Social Security, and that same application starts a Medicare Savings Program application in your state unless you tell them not to. Filing costs nothing, and your State Health Insurance Assistance Program or a licensed agent will help you do it.

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