Medicare Cost Statistics (2026)

For most people, Medicare costs $202.90 a month for Part B in 2026, plus whatever they pay for drug coverage and for any plan that fills Medicare's gaps. Part A, the hospital insurance, costs nothing a month for about 99% of beneficiaries because they or a spouse paid Medicare taxes for at least 10 years.

The costs that catch people out are the ones charged at the point of care: a $1,736 deductible for each hospital benefit period, a $283 yearly Part B deductible, and 20% coinsurance on most Part B services with no annual limit in Original Medicare.

A person with Original Medicare and nothing else pays $2,434.80 a year in Part B premiums and carries open-ended cost sharing. A person in a zero-premium Medicare Advantage plan pays the same Part B premium but has a plan out-of-pocket limit. A person with Medigap Plan G and a drug plan pays several thousand dollars more in premiums and very little at the doctor's office. The table below shows every standard figure for 2025, 2026 and the Trustees' projection for 2027.

The standard Part B premium for 2026 is $202.90 a month, up $17.90 from $185.00 in 2025 (CMS). Part B covers doctors, outpatient care, lab tests, imaging, durable medical equipment and drugs given in a clinic.

By law the standard premium is set to cover 25% of the average cost of Part B for an aged enrollee. Federal general revenue pays most of the rest: $422.9 billion in 2025, 72.9% of Part B's income, according to the Trustees.

The premium is usually taken straight out of a Social Security payment. People who are not yet collecting Social Security receive a bill. People who receive only immunosuppressive drug coverage under Part B, a narrow group of former kidney transplant patients, pay a separate premium of $121.60 a month.

CMS attributes the 2026 increase mainly to projected price changes and assumed utilization increases. It would have been larger. CMS says a new payment policy for skin substitutes, which it expects to cut that spending by 90%, kept the premium increase about $11 a month lower than it would otherwise have been.

Skin substitutes are wound-care products, and the Trustees Report shows how fast they grew: Part B spending on them rose from $0.8 billion in 2021 to $14.1 billion in 2025 because of much higher average prices and more use.

Because every beneficiary's premium is set at a quarter of average Part B spending, growth in one category of claims raises the premium for people who never use that care.

The standard premium was $121.80 in 2016 and is $202.90 in 2026, a 67% increase over ten years, from the Trustees Report premium history. It was $3.00 a month when Medicare started in 1966, $45.50 in 2000 and $110.50 in 2010.

It does not rise every year. It held flat at $134.00 from 2017 to 2018, and it fell in 2023, from $170.10 to $164.90. The largest single increase of the decade was in 2022, up $21.60.

The deductible has followed the same path, from $166 in 2016 to $283 in 2026. The Trustees project the premium at $255.50 by 2030 and $360.60 by 2035.

After the $283 yearly deductible, Part B generally pays 80% of the Medicare-approved amount and the beneficiary pays 20% coinsurance for most services. A $1,000 approved outpatient procedure, for example, leaves $200 for the patient once the deductible is met.

Original Medicare has no yearly out-of-pocket limit for Part A or Part B. That missing ceiling is the main reason most beneficiaries carry some other coverage: a Medigap policy, an employer retiree plan, Medicaid, or a Medicare Advantage plan with its own cap.

The deductible rose from $257 in 2025 to $283 in 2026, and the Trustees project $292 for 2027.

About 99% of Medicare beneficiaries pay no Part A premium. People with fewer than 30 quarters of Medicare-covered work pay $565 a month in 2026, and people with 30 to 39 quarters pay a reduced $311.

The Part A inpatient deductible is $1,736 in 2026, up $60 from $1,676. It applies per benefit period, not per year, so someone admitted to hospital twice with more than 60 days between stays can pay it twice in a year.

The deductible covers the first 60 days of a hospital stay. After that, coinsurance starts.

In 2026 a hospital stay costs $434 a day for days 61 to 90 and $868 a day for each lifetime reserve day after that. Every beneficiary has 60 lifetime reserve days in total, and once they are used Medicare pays nothing for further hospital days in that benefit period.

Skilled nursing facility care after a qualifying hospital stay is free for the first 20 days, then $217.00 a day for days 21 to 100, up from $209.50 in 2025. Medicare does not cover skilled nursing after day 100, and it does not cover custodial long-term care at all.

Long-term care is the largest cost in later life that Medicare leaves out. It is covered in detail, with lifetime estimates, on our healthcare costs in retirement page and our long-term care cost page.

The income-related monthly adjustment amount, IRMAA, raises Part B and Part D premiums for higher earners. In 2026 it starts above $109,000 of modified adjusted gross income for a single filer and $218,000 for a joint return.

There are five steps. The first takes the Part B premium to $284.10, and the top step, at $500,000 single or $750,000 joint, takes it to $689.90, which is 3.4 times the standard premium. The Part D surcharge runs from $14.50 to $91.00 a month on top of the drug plan's own premium.

The brackets are set so that the highest earners pay premiums covering 35%, 50%, 65%, 80% or 85% of average Part B cost, against 25% for everyone else (Medicare Trustees). A couple in the top bracket paying both surcharges pays $1,561.80 a month between them for Part B and the Part D surcharge alone.

Roughly 8% of people with Part B pay the income-related premium, and about 8% of Part D enrollees pay the Part D version. The Trustees count 6.1 million beneficiaries affected in 2026, paying $18.8 billion, up from about 5.1 million who paid the Part B surcharge in 2025.

The Part B surcharge has existed since 2007 and the Part D surcharge since 2011. The Trustees project the five Part B surcharges for 2027 at $83.70, $209.40, $335.10, $460.70 and $502.60, with 6.6 million people affected.

Because the thresholds are cliffs, one dollar of income over a line moves a person into the whole of the next bracket. That makes the brackets matter for anything that raises income in a single year, such as a Roth conversion, a large capital gain or a required minimum distribution.

Since 2025 Part D has had a hard ceiling on what an enrollee pays for covered drugs in a year: $2,100 in 2026, rising to $2,400 in 2027. It was $2,000 in 2025, the first year of the cap. Before that, Part D had no out-of-pocket limit.

No drug plan may charge a deductible above $615 in 2026 or $700 in 2027. Insulin covered by Part B or Part D costs no more than $35 for a month's supply, with no deductible.

Premiums vary by plan. CMS puts the average stand-alone drug plan premium at $35.09 a month in 2026, and the base beneficiary premium, a benchmark used to calculate late-enrollment penalties, is $38.99. People with limited income can get Extra Help, which in 2027 caps copays at $5.80 for a generic and $14.40 for a brand-name drug (Medicare.gov).

CMS is ending the Part D premium stabilization demonstration at the end of 2026. The demonstration paid stand-alone plans extra subsidies and limited monthly premium increases to $50, and its end is the main reason 2027 drug premiums are moving.

CMS reports the average stand-alone plan premium rising only from $35.09 to $36 in 2027. KFF's analysis of the same plans finds that 76% of stand-alone plan enrollees without Extra Help, 10.4 million people, would face higher premiums if they stayed in their current plan, and that no zero-premium stand-alone plans are on offer for 2027. The two figures measure different things: CMS weights by where people are expected to enroll, KFF by where they are now.

The choice is also narrowing. KFF counts 316 stand-alone drug plans nationwide in 2027, down from 360, and an average of 9 per beneficiary, down from 11. The base beneficiary premium rises to $41.33, under a rule that limits its growth to 6% a year through 2029.

35.2 million people, 55% of beneficiaries with both Part A and Part B, are in a Medicare Advantage plan in 2026, up 1.1 million from 2025. UnitedHealthcare and Humana together hold 46% of that enrollment.

Medicare Advantage enrollees still pay the Part B premium. On top of that, 75% of enrollees in individual plans with drug coverage pay no additional premium, and the enrollment-weighted average extra premium is $15 a month. CMS puts the average Medicare Advantage premium at $14.37 in 2026, falling to $12.00 in 2027.

Unlike Original Medicare, every Advantage plan has an annual out-of-pocket limit. Federal rules cap it at $9,250 for in-network care in 2026 ($13,900 combined in and out of network), and the average plan sets it at $5,421. Advantage plans also use provider networks, and 99% of Advantage enrollees are in plans that use prior authorization for some services.

A Medigap policy covers some or all of Original Medicare's deductibles and coinsurance. 12.9 million people, 46% of traditional Medicare beneficiaries, had one in 2024.

The average Medigap premium was $244 a month, or $2,926 a year, in 2025, according to KFF's analysis of insurer filings. Plan G, the most popular plan with 6.3 million policyholders, averaged $194 a month ($2,323 a year). Plan F, closed to people who became eligible from 2020, averaged $325.

Medigap uptake has grown as Plan G replaced Plan F: MedPAC finds the share of traditional Medicare beneficiaries with Medigap rose from 36% to 44% between 2019 and 2023. Premiums depend on age, state and plan letter, so the averages are a starting point and not a quote.

In 2023 the total cost of health care for a traditional Medicare beneficiary averaged about $21,000, counting everything from hospital stays to dental care and over-the-counter medicine. Medicare paid 63%, or $13,268. Beneficiaries paid about 16% themselves, an average of $3,250, not counting any premiums.

Liability for Part A and Part B cost sharing alone averaged $2,252 per beneficiary, $63.9 billion in total. It is very uneven: 54% of beneficiaries owed $1,000 or less, while 11% owed more than $5,000, and that 11% accounted for 53% of all cost sharing owed.

Older figures are still widely quoted. KFF's analysis of 2016 data found average out-of-pocket spending of $5,460, and that half of beneficiaries spent at least 12% of their income on health care. That figure includes premiums, which the MedPAC $3,250 does not, so the two are not comparable.

94% of traditional Medicare beneficiaries have some kind of supplemental coverage or are in Medicare Advantage; 6.4% have neither. Supplemental coverage includes Medigap, employer retiree plans and Medicaid.

Among beneficiaries who owed more than $5,000 in Part A and B cost sharing in 2023, those with supplemental coverage paid an average of $2,388 out of pocket. Those without it paid $5,883.

Across everyone, average out-of-pocket spending on Part A and B services was $653 with supplemental coverage and $1,041 without. Those amounts exclude what the supplemental coverage itself cost in premiums, which for Medigap averages $2,926 a year.

69.3 million people were enrolled in Medicare during 2025: 62.2 million aged 65 and older and 7.1 million under 65 with a disability.

About half are in private Medicare Advantage plans. The Trustees put the share at about 51% of all enrollees in 2025, and KFF counts 28.7 million (46%) in traditional Medicare. CMS expects 34 million in Medicare Advantage in 2027, 47.4% of all Medicare beneficiaries, a lower share than KFF's 55% because CMS counts everyone with Medicare, including people with Part A only.

Part D is split the same way: 56% of Part D enrollees get drug coverage through a Medicare Advantage plan and the rest through a stand-alone plan.

Medicare spent $1,210.1 billion in 2025, an average benefit of $18,650 per enrollee: $6,344 for Part A, $9,117 for Part B and $3,190 for Part D. CMS's national health accounts put Medicare spending growth at 7.8% in 2024, to $1,118.0 billion, 21% of all US health spending.

The Hospital Insurance trust fund, which pays Part A, is projected to be depleted in the second quarter of 2033, one quarter earlier than in last year's report. At that point incoming payroll taxes would cover 89% of scheduled Part A benefits. Parts B and D cannot run out in the same way because general revenue and premiums are reset each year to cover them, which is why rising Part B spending shows up in premiums.

CBO projects insolvency in 2040, later than the Trustees. Spending is concentrated: the costliest 5% of traditional Medicare beneficiaries account for 45% of its spending.

For most people, the Part B premium cannot rise by more dollars than their Social Security payment does. The hold-harmless rule covers roughly 70% of Part B enrollees, those whose premium is deducted from a Social Security check. The other 30% are not protected: new enrollees during the year, people who do not receive Social Security checks, IRMAA payers, and people with both Medicare and Medicaid, whose premiums their state pays.

The rule matters in years with a small cost-of-living adjustment. In 2016 the COLA was 0%, so protected beneficiaries kept paying the 2015 premium of $104.90 while others paid more. The same happened in 2010 and 2011, when most premiums were held at the 2009 rate of $96.40.

When the dollar increase in a person's Social Security payment is larger than the dollar increase in the premium, the rule has no effect and they pay the full standard premium.

CMS had not published the 2027 Part B premium as of November 8, 2026. The Trustees Report projects a 2027 Part B premium of $209.50 and a deductible of $292, an increase of $6.60 a month.

The projected Part A figures for 2027 are a $1,788 hospital deductible, $447 a day for days 61 to 90, $894 per lifetime reserve day and $223.50 a day for skilled nursing days 21 to 100.

The 2027 Part D numbers are final: a $2,400 out-of-pocket cap, a maximum deductible of $700 and a base beneficiary premium of $41.33. Medicare open enrollment for 2027 coverage runs from October 15 to December 7, 2026.

This page covers what Medicare costs in a given year, part by part. Our healthcare costs in retirement page covers the lifetime question: Fidelity's estimate of what a retiree spends on health care over retirement, EBRI's savings targets, and long-term care.

Both pages start from the same CMS premium figures. For the costs Medicare pays for at the point of care, see our hospital cost, emergency room cost and prescription drug cost pages, and for coverage before 65, health insurance statistics.

These figures describe what the program charges. They are not advice on which coverage to choose, which depends on health, income, location and the specific plans available.

Premiums, deductibles, coinsurance and IRMAA brackets for 2026 are from the CMS fact sheet published in November 2025. Premium and deductible history, IRMAA counts, enrollment, spending, the trust fund and every 2027 Part A and B figure are from the 2026 Medicare Trustees Report, published June 9, 2026.

Part D limits are from Medicare.gov and CMS's 2027 bid fact sheet. Medicare Advantage, Medigap and 2027 Part D plan analysis are from KFF. Out-of-pocket spending is from MedPAC's July 2026 data book, which analyses the 2023 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.

Where two sources give different numbers for the same thing, such as Medicare Advantage share or Medigap enrollment, the page says which source and which year each comes from.