How much will Medicare cost you this year?
Choose a route, enter your income and your expected care and drugs: the total adds every premium and every share you would pay.
What you would pay in 2027: Advantage plan
$4,973
$414 a month on average (2027 Part B and IRMAA: Trustees projection, not final)
| Part B premiums | $2,514 |
| Plan premiums | $0 |
| Medical cost sharing | $1,034 |
| Drugs at the pharmacy | $1,425 |
| Worst case for medical care | $6,000 |
Compiled by Radif Partners · How the data is read · independent site, not affiliated with Medicare or any insurer
What Medicare costs in a year is the sum of five pieces: the Part B premium ($202.90 a month in 2026, projected at $209.50 for 2027), any income-related adjustment if your income two years earlier passed the IRMAA thresholds, the premium of your plan or of your Medigap and drug policies, your share of medical care, and your share of drug costs. The route you choose moves the last three. With Original Medicare alone, medical cost sharing has no ceiling; a Medicare Advantage plan caps it at its in-network maximum; Medigap Plan G leaves only the Part B deductible. Drugs are capped at $2,400 in 2027 on every route that includes Part D. For a single person with $70,000 of income, $3,600 of drugs a year and a quiet year of care, a $0 Advantage plan comes to $4,673 in 2027 and Medigap G with a drug plan to $6,643; in a year with two hospital stays the order can flip.
Four routes, two kinds of years
| 2027, single, $70,000 income, $300/month of drugs | Quiet year | Hard year |
|---|---|---|
| $0 Advantage plan, cap $5,900 | $4,673 | $9,839 |
| Original Medicare + $36 drug plan | $5,105 | $20,181 |
| Medigap G at $165 + $36 drug plan | $6,643 | $6,643 |
| High-deductible G at $55 + $36 drug plan | $5,765 | $8,081 |
The table shows the pattern the calculator reproduces with your figures. In a quiet year, the routes with the lowest premiums win: the $0 Advantage plan and Original Medicare cost little more than the Part B premium and the drugs. In a hard year, Original Medicare alone is the most expensive by far, because the 20% has no limit; the Advantage plan stops at its cap; Plan G is the most predictable, since almost everything is covered after the Part B deductible. The Medigap and drug-plan premiums here are examples: Medigap prices depend on your state, age and ZIP code, so enter the quotes you receive.
A “$0 plan” over a year
Still paid in 2027
$3,548
| Part B premium (projected) | $2,514 |
| Cost sharing, up to the cap | $1,034 |
| Worst case | $9,264 |
How each piece is computed
Part B and IRMAA
The Part B premium for 2026 is the CMS figure; for 2027 the calculator uses the Trustees' projection and says so. If your modified adjusted gross income two years earlier is above the first threshold, it adds the Part B and Part D adjustments of your bracket: with $180,000 of income instead of $70,000, the same quiet year in the $0 plan costs $9,419 instead of $4,673. The IRMAA page has the brackets.
Medical care
Enter the Medicare-approved value of the care you expect, not what a hospital lists as its price. For Original Medicare, the calculator applies the Part B deductible and 20%, plus the Part A deductible for each admission. For an Advantage plan, it applies the same amounts up to the plan's cap, because the CMS landscape file gives the cap but not each copay; real plans charge more for some services and less for others, so the cap is the only figure you can rely on in a bad year. For Medigap G, only the Part B deductible remains; for high-deductible G, everything up to its deductible of $3,050 in 2027.
Late penalties
If you already pay a Part B or Part D late enrollment penalty, it comes on top of every route, for as long as you keep that coverage, and it rises when the premium it is based on rises. The penalty calculator gives the monthly amount to add.
Drugs
Enter the full price of your drugs per month. The calculator applies the 2027 standard Part D benefit: deductible, 25% coinsurance, and the yearly cap. A plan with a lower deductible or flat copays can cost less; the Part D calculator lets you enter a plan's own deductible.
What an out-of-pocket cap is worth in a bad year
The cap saves
$8,022
| Original Medicare alone (20%, 1 admission) | $14,022 |
| With the plan’s cap | $6,000 |
2026 or 2027: what moves between the two years
The year switch at the top changes four things at once. The Part B premium and deductible move from the final 2026 amounts to the Trustees' 2027 projection. The Part A deductible follows the same projection. The high-deductible Medigap threshold rises to the amount CMS announced for 2027. The IRMAA bracket is read from the return of two years earlier, 2024 for 2026 and 2025 for 2027, with the 2026 income limits kept for 2027 until CMS publishes the new ones. The drug side always uses the 2027 Part D rules, the year people are choosing plans for during this open enrollment.
Plan premiums and caps do not change with the switch: they are what you type, and the county lists show the 2027 values filed with CMS. To see how a plan changed, compare its 2027 line with the 2026 premium shown under its name in the finder.
Reading the result
Two numbers matter: the expected total, and the worst case for medical care shown on the last line. A route with a lower expected total and a much higher worst case is a bet on your health. People with a chronic illness, a planned surgery or simply a low tolerance for surprise often prefer paying a known premium to lower the worst case. To compare two specific Advantage plans of your county with the same inputs, use the two-plan comparator, which reads each plan's premium, cap and drug deductible from the CMS file.