Updated October 9, 2026. Quick answer. The 2027 standard Medicare Part B
premium is not officially announced yet — CMS typically announces it in
the first half of November for the following year. For comparison,
the confirmed 2026 premium is $202.90.
What the announced record actually looks like — and the row that is still empty. Each bar is the standard monthly Part B premium for that year, taken from the Federal Register notice that announced it, not from a summary. Across 2005–2026 the premium went from $78.20 to $202.90, but it did not simply climb: of the 21 year-to-year changes, 15 were increases, 4 left it unchanged (2009, 2014, 2015, 2018) and 2 were decreases — 2012 fell $15.50 and 2023 fell $5.20. The median change is $5.00; the largest was 2022’s $21.60. From 2019 on, each notice also states its own increase against the year before — “The 2026 standard Part B premium of $202.90 is $17.90 higher than the 2025 premium of $185.00” — so every one of those figures is confirmed twice. One honest limit, in CMS’s own words: “standard” is not what everyone paid. In a hold-harmless year most enrollees pay less, which is why 2012’s standard premium can fall while CMS writes that “For the approximately 30 million Part B enrollees who paid a 2011 premium of $96.40 under the hold-harmless provision, the standard Part B premium rate of $99.90 is $3.50 higher than the 2011 premium that they paid”. Nothing is plotted for 2027: that figure does not exist yet. CC BY 4.0.
Why there are two different projections
The Medicare Trustees Report models Part B costs using the program’s own long-range
assumptions, published annually. Private forecasters (financial-media outlets citing independent
actuarial estimates) tend to project somewhat higher, reflecting more recent healthcare-cost
trend data than the Trustees’ own model incorporates at publication time. Neither is official
until CMS’s own November notice.
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Part B premiums are set annually to cover 25% of projected Part B program costs (the other
75% comes from general federal revenue), calculated by CMS actuaries and published via a formal
notice, typically in the first half of November. The premium also determines the deductible,
which moves on a related but separate calculation.
The honest answer to “when will I know?” The statute is specific: the Secretary shall, “during September of each year,” determine and promulgate the premium for the next calendar year (42 U.S.C. §1395r(a)(3)). In practice, 5 of these 22 notices published in September — the most recent being 2023’s — while 6 published in October, 6 in the first half of November and 5 in the second half. The full spread runs from September 9, 2004 (the 2005 rate) to November 21, 2012 (the 2013 rate; the 2018 rate was published on the same calendar day in 2017). Publication is not the same act as the announcement: in every cycle whose CMS fact sheet is still online, CMS released the figure 4–6 days before the notice published — 6 cycles, each confirmed by the fact sheet’s own sentence and its own date stamp. The open rings for the other 16 cycles are missing because those fact sheets are no longer posted, not because nothing was announced. The 2027 row is empty on purpose. CC BY 4.0.
If your premium is higher than the standard figure
The numbers above are the standard premium. If your income triggers IRMAA, your
actual premium is higher — see the 2027 IRMAA brackets
for the income-tier surcharge structure, which is based on income from two years earlier (your
2025 return).
Sources
2026 confirmed premium: CMS, Federal Register notice 2025-20251 (90 FR 52063, November 19, 2025). 2027 projections: Medicare Trustees Report (official program
projection, not a final rate) and private-forecaster estimates as reported across financial media
in 2026 — both explicitly attributed, neither official. Verified against the 2026 Medicare Trustees Report (Table V.E2) and the Federal Register notices on September 29, 2026; no 2027 Part B premium notice had been published as of that date.
Every projected figure above is attributed to the organization that published it and is explicitly not yet announced by the government body that sets it. This page will be updated with the official figure the day it is announced, and the projection will be struck through rather than deleted, so the record of what was projected vs. what actually happened stays visible. See the full current-numbers register for every figure this site tracks, dated and sourced. General information, not tax or legal advice.
The 2027 premium is not announced, and it is set actuarially rather than by an index, which is why it arrives later than the Part D figures. Your 2027 numbers shows what is already knowable for 2027, and the window this one is published in.