The short answer
Medicare Part B costs 202.90 dollars a month in 2026 at the standard rate, plus a 283 dollar deductible once a year, then usually 20 percent of each covered service. Higher incomes pay more on a 2 year lookback, and late enrollment can add a penalty for as long as you have Part B.
Plan year 2026. Every figure on this page is the 2026 value, read from Medicare.gov's costs page on August 7, 2026. What changed for 2026: the standard premium rose 17.90 dollars from 185.00 dollars in 2025, and the deductible rose 26 dollars from 257 dollars in 2025, per CMS's November 2025 fact sheet.
Say your income two years ago was higher than it is today. The premium you are quoted this year reflects the year you were still earning, not the one you are living in. Nothing you do now changes the bill you are looking at.
How much is the Part B premium this year?
The standard Part B premium is 202.90 dollars a month in 2026, on Medicare.gov's costs page, and people with higher incomes pay more. It is charged every month, even months with no doctor visits: a premium, in Medicare.gov's definition, is a monthly amount paid whether you get services or not.
The word standard is doing quiet work in that sentence. The standard premium is the base figure. Two separate additions can sit on top of it: an income adjustment, covered two sections down, and a late enrollment penalty, which has its own article in the Enrollment section.
For most people, neither addition applies, and the standard figure is the bill.
What is the Part B deductible?
The Part B deductible is 283 dollars in 2026, paid once each year before Original Medicare starts to pay. After it is met, the usual pattern is a 20 percent coinsurance: on a 100 dollar Medicare-covered service, Medicare pays 80 dollars and you pay 20.
Medicare.gov's own vocabulary drawer defines the terms this page runs on. A deductible is the amount paid for covered services each year before Medicare or the plan starts to pay. Coinsurance is a percentage of the cost, generally 20 percent in Part B. A copayment is a fixed amount, like 30 dollars.
Two amounts make up what Part B costs you before any care is delivered, and they behave differently.
| The premium | The deductible | |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 amount | 202.90 dollars standard | 283 dollars |
| How often | Every month, whether you use care or not | Once in the calendar year |
| Can it be higher | Yes, if your income is above the threshold | No, it is the same for everyone |
The last row is worth holding on to. The deductible is one figure for every person on Part B, while the premium is the part that moves with your income.
One condition rides with the 20 percent: it holds when the provider accepts assignment, meaning the provider takes the Medicare-approved amount as full payment.
The once-each-year rhythm is a Part B trait, not a Medicare trait. Part A's deductible runs on a different clock, and the companion deductible article covers the difference.
Why is my premium higher than the standard amount?
A premium higher than the standard amount usually means income. In 2026 the higher Part B premium applies when your modified adjusted gross income, taken from your IRS tax return of 2 years ago, is above 109,000 dollars filing individually or 218,000 dollars filing jointly, per Medicare.gov.
The 2 year lookback is the detail that surprises people. What you pay in 2026 is set by your 2024 tax return, so a retirement, a sale, or a one-time income spike echoes into your premium two years later.
Social Security tells you if the higher premium applies. And the rule has a relief valve: after a life-changing event that reduced your household income, you can ask Social Security to lower the additional amount.
The full bracket table, and the planning questions around it, belong to the companion article on IRMAA income brackets. A late enrollment penalty is the other cause of a higher bill, and it has its own article. Both land on the same premium, and only one of them is still avoidable.
How is the premium set each year?
The Part B premium is set on a yearly cycle: Medicare.gov states the amount can change each year, and its costs page carries the current figure under the label What you pay in 2026. The standard premium is the base; income adjustments and penalties are separate layers on top.
The yearly cycle gives every Part B number a shelf life. Any figure quoted anywhere, including on this page, is a plan-year figure, and the honest habit is reading the year next to the number before trusting it.
The deductible follows the same rhythm: 283 dollars in 2026, a figure that belongs to this plan year the same way the premium does. This page is refreshed on that cycle, and the plan year label at the top says which year it currently speaks for.
How do I pay the Part B premium?
Most people pay the Part B premium without writing a check: it is deducted automatically from their Social Security or Railroad Retirement Board benefit payment. Everyone else gets a bill from Medicare, and for Part B alone that bill arrives every 3 months, per Medicare.gov's payment page.
Four payment routes exist for the billed. Online through your Medicare account, which links to the U.S. Treasury's Pay.gov. Medicare Easy Pay, free recurring deductions on the 20th of the month, started online or with form SF-5510, taking up to 6 to 8 weeks to begin. Your own bank's online bill pay. Or mail, with the payment coupon included.
The calendar matters: all Medicare premium bills are due on the 25th of the month, and Medicare.gov says to submit payment at least 5 business days ahead.
Miss a payment and the next bill carries the past due amount. A bill marked Delinquent Bill must be paid in full, or Medicare coverage is lost. Billing questions go to 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227, TTY 1-877-486-2048), and people with limited income and resources may get state help with premiums and other costs.
Can my premium change?
Your Part B premium can change, on three dials. Call them the Three Dials: the calendar resets the standard amount each year, your income from 2 years back sets any surcharge, and your enrollment history sets any penalty. Each dial moves independently, and each is checkable.
The Three Dials is our arrangement of three facts stated separately on Medicare.gov's costs page. The amount can change each year. Income two years back can raise it. And a late sign-up penalty can attach for as long as you have Part B. All three facts are the government's. The naming is ours.
When a bill jumps, the dials give the checking order. The year first, because the standard amount resets annually. The income letter from Social Security second. The penalty question last, and only once, because a penalty attaches to history rather than to the year.
One mechanical footnote for Easy Pay users: the deducted amount updates automatically when the premium changes, so a January change arrives without paperwork.
What changed this year
The Part B figures on this page are 2026 plan year values, and two of the three moved. The premium and the deductible both rose, and the income line that starts a surcharge rose with them. Each figure below carries the year it belongs to.
The standard monthly premium is 202.90 dollars in 2026, up 17.90 dollars from 185.00 dollars in 2025. The annual deductible is 283 dollars in 2026, up 26 dollars from 257 dollars in 2025.
The income threshold moved too. The first income-related adjustment now starts above 109,000 dollars on an individual return and 218,000 dollars on a joint return in 2026, where in 2025 those lines sat at 106,000 dollars and 212,000 dollars.
CMS attributes the premium increase mainly to projected price changes and assumed increases in use.
Source: the CMS fact sheets of November 14, 2025 and November 8, 2024.
What this means for you
How much Part B costs in 2026 is a three-part answer: 202.90 dollars a month standard, 283 dollars of deductible once a year, then usually 20 percent of each covered service. Higher incomes and late sign-ups raise the first number, and the whole set resets every plan year.
The two companion articles carry the rest of the cost picture: what Part A costs, and how the two deductibles behave across a year.
FAQ
Is the Part B premium the same for everyone?
No, though most people pay the same standard figure, 202.90 dollars a month in 2026. Two additions create the differences.
Higher incomes pay more: in 2026 the surcharge applies above 109,000 dollars of modified adjusted gross income filing individually, or 218,000 dollars jointly, measured from the tax return of 2 years ago.
And late enrollment can add a penalty that lasts as long as Part B does, built from how long you went without signing up or holding qualifying coverage.
So three people can hold identical coverage at three different monthly prices, each price explained by one of the layers: the year's standard amount, the income lookback, and enrollment history.
What income counts for the higher premium?
Modified adjusted gross income, as reported on your IRS tax return from 2 years ago, per Medicare.gov. For 2026 that means the 2024 return, and the thresholds are 109,000 dollars for individual filers (and married filing separately) and 218,000 dollars for joint filers.
Social Security does the telling: a letter arrives if the higher premium applies to you, so the surcharge never has to be self-computed.
The rule's relief valve matters for anyone whose finances changed: after a life-changing event that reduced household income, you can ask Social Security to lower the additional amount.
The bracket-by-bracket detail lives in the companion IRMAA article, which owns those figures.
Do I pay the premium if I never see a doctor?
Yes. Medicare.gov's costs page says the premium is paid each month even if you get no Part B-covered services. Its own definition of a premium makes the logic explicit: a monthly amount you pay for coverage, whether you get services or not.
The premium buys the coverage itself, not the visits. The usage-based costs are separate and arrive only with care: the 283 dollar deductible in 2026, then usually 20 percent of each covered service.
A healthy year therefore costs the premium alone, roughly twelve times the monthly figure, and a heavy year adds the deductible and coinsurance on top. The premium is the floor, never the ceiling.
What happens if I miss a premium payment?
The missed amount rides onto your next bill as past due, per Medicare.gov's payment page. The serious threshold is the bill marked Delinquent Bill at the top: pay the total amount due on that one, or you lose your Medicare coverage.
The page's own guidance for staying clear of that edge is specific. Bills are due the 25th of the month. Payments should be submitted at least 5 business days ahead, and the fastest routes are the online Medicare account and Medicare Easy Pay, the free recurring deduction that even updates itself when the premium changes.
For billing questions, the number is 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227, TTY 1-877-486-2048).
Can I get help paying the Part B premium?
Possibly. Medicare.gov's payment page says that with limited income and resources you may be able to get help from your state paying premiums and other costs, like deductibles, coinsurance, and copays.
That sentence is the doorway to the Medicare Savings Programs, which are covered in this publication's Savings section, including who qualifies and how to apply through your state.
The same income territory also holds Extra Help, the parallel program for drug costs. For anyone finding the monthly figure genuinely hard to carry, those two program families are the published starting points, and both run through your state or Social Security rather than through any private company.
