What is the Medicare Part B deductible for 2026?

What is the Medicare Part B deductible for 2026?

The Part B deductible is $283 in 2026, which is a $26 increase from 2025.¹

Does everyone have to pay the Part B deductible?

No, not everyone with Medicare has to pay the Part B deductible. For example:

• The deductible is only charged if an enrollee receives medical care that’s covered by Part B, and certain preventive care is covered without a deductible.² So if an enrollee stays healthy throughout the year and doesn’t need any care other than fully covered preventive care, they won’t have to pay the Part B deductible.
• Medigap plans C and F cover the Part B deductible, although those plans are not available to anyone whose Medicare eligibility date is in 2020 or later.³
• Enrollees who have Medicaid, employer-sponsored health coverage, or retiree health benefits from an employer generally don’t have to pay the Part B deductible, as the other coverage picks up some or all of the cost.
• Some Medicare Advantage plans have no deductibles and low copays (Medicare Advantage enrollees pay the Part B premium plus the Medicare Advantage premium if the policy has a premium, and then the Medicare Advantage insurer wraps the Part A and B (and in most cases, D) benefits into one plan for the enrollee. But the cost-sharing can differ greatly from the standard Original Medicare cost-sharing).

But according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis,⁴ about 11% of Original Medicare beneficiaries only have Medicare Parts A and B. They don’t have Medigap coverage, employer-sponsored coverage, retiree health benefits from a former employer, or Medicaid. These enrollees — along with beneficiaries who have a Medigap plan other than C or F — have to pay the full Part B deductible if and when they need services that are covered under Medicare Part B. For 2026, that deductible is $283.

After the enrollee pays the deductible, Medicare Part B generally covers 80% of the Medicare-approved amount for covered services, and the enrollee pays the other 20%. But again, supplemental coverage can pay some or all of this 20% cost, leaving the enrollee with far lower out-of-pocket costs than they would have under Part B by itself.