What CMS Has Confirmed So Far About the 2027 Medicare Part B Premium

Every fall, headlines about “the 2027 Medicare Part B premium” circulate well before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) actually sets it. As of October 26, 2026, CMS has not released the official 2027 Part B premium, deductible, or IRMAA brackets. This post lays out what is confirmed, what is still a projection, and when to expect the real number.

What is the standard Medicare Part B premium for 2027?

CMS has not set the 2027 Part B premium yet. The confirmed figure remains the 2026 standard premium of $202.90 a month, and the 2027 amount is expected in mid-November 2026. The most recent example of that process is the 2026 Part B premium notice CMS filed with the Federal Register.

The 2026 standard premium of $202.90 is equal to 50 percent of the monthly actuarial rate for aged enrollees plus the $0.20 repayment amount required under current law. It was 9.7 percent, or $17.90, higher than the 2025 standard premium of $185.00. That confirmed 2026 figure is the baseline every 2027 projection builds from.

The only 2027 number available today is a planning estimate. The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report, the annual financial projection published each spring, projects the monthly Part B premium rising from about $203 to about $210 in 2027 (roughly 3.3 percent). Trustees estimates have shifted before becoming final in past years, so treat it as a working number, not a bill. Readers comparing plans during the 2027 Annual Enrollment Period should budget with the confirmed 2026 premium as a floor and expect a modest increase in November.

How much is the 2027 Part B deductible, and did it change from 2026?

CMS has not published a 2027 Part B deductible either. The confirmed 2026 deductible is $283 a year, an increase of $26 from $257 in 2025, and the 2027 figure will appear in the same mid-November notice as the premium.

The deductible is not set arbitrarily. By regulation, CMS multiplies the prior year’s deductible by the ratio of the new aged actuarial rate to the prior year’s rate, then rounds to the nearest dollar. Because the deductible and the premium come from the same Part B spending projection, the two numbers tend to rise or fall together.

Why do Medicare Part B costs keep increasing?

Part B premiums are not a flat inflation adjustment. By statute, the standard premium is set each year to cover about 25 percent of projected Part B spending for an aged enrollee, so it rises whenever CMS projects higher prices or more use of covered services, including physician services, outpatient care, durable medical equipment, and physician-administered drugs.

CMS attributed the 2026 increase mainly to projected price changes and assumed utilization increases consistent with historical experience. It also noted a 2026-specific policy effect: without action on unprecedented spending for skin substitutes, the monthly premium would have been about $11 higher, and changes in the 2026 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule are expected to cut that spending by 90 percent. Whether a similar offset appears in the 2027 notice will not be known until CMS publishes it.

Does IRMAA still apply on top of the standard premium?

Yes. IRMAA, the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, is a separate income-based surcharge that layers on top of whatever standard premium CMS sets, and it is announced in the same annual notice.

Higher-income beneficiaries pay a total monthly premium of about 35, 50, 65, 80, or 85 percent of the total cost of Part B coverage, plus a small repayment amount, instead of the standard 25 percent. For 2026, that put the total Part B premium with IRMAA between $284.10 and $689.90 a month, starting above $109,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single filers or $218,000 for joint filers, with the top rate applying above $500,000 single or $750,000 joint.

IRMAA uses your tax return from two years earlier, so your 2027 bracket will be based on 2025 income that is already fixed. Use the IRMAA calculator to see where your income lands, and review the full IRMAA brackets breakdown for how each tier works. If a life event such as retirement or the loss of a pension lowered your income since 2025, the SSA-44 appeal process may lower what you actually pay.

When does the new premium start coming out of Social Security checks?

For most beneficiaries, the new premium takes effect with the January 2027 payment. Social Security withholds the Part B premium automatically when the monthly benefit covers it, which is why most retirees never see a separate bill, and it generally mails an updated benefit notice in December showing the new gross amount, the premium withheld, and the net deposit. If your benefit is too small to cover the premium, Medicare bills you directly.

A federal hold harmless rule limits how much a Part B premium increase can reduce a Social Security check, so for eligible beneficiaries the net check in January cannot be smaller than it was in December. It generally applies only if your premium is deducted from a Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefit and you were entitled to that benefit in both November and December of the prior year. It does not protect the IRMAA portion of a premium or people new to Medicare that year. For how the two programs interact month to month, see how Medicare works with Social Security.

Where is the official CMS announcement?

CMS publishes the confirmed figures as a newsroom fact sheet at cms.gov and files the same numbers as a formal notice in the Federal Register, usually within a week of each other. The 2026 figures were released on November 14, 2025, and the Federal Register notice followed five days later, which is the direct precedent for the 2027 timing.

Because Part D and Medicare Advantage premiums are finalized on an earlier timeline, do not assume the 2027 Part B premium matches what you have already seen for drug plan costs. For the Part D picture already confirmed for 2027, including the deductible and the out-of-pocket cap, see Medicare Part D changes for 2027.

The Medicare hub has AEP deadlines, plan comparisons, and the 2027 figures CMS has already confirmed. Check back here once CMS releases the Part B notice; the mechanics above will not change, only the dollar figures will.