Updated August 19, 2026. Quick answer: the 2027 Medicare Part D numbers are already official. The defined standard deductible rises to $700 (from $615 in 2026) and the annual out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 (from $2,100). CMS set both in its Calendar Year 2027 Rate Announcement, months before the Part B premium and the IRMAA brackets for the same year exist.
Almost everything else about 2027 is still a projection in August 2026 — the Social Security COLA, the Part B premium, the IRMAA tiers, the income tax brackets. Part D is the exception, and the reason is structural: its parameters are set in the spring rate cycle that plans have to bid against, not in the autumn inflation cycle.
The 2027 figures, and the 2026 ones beside them
| Defined standard benefit | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Deductible (defined standard benefit) | $615 | $700 |
| Annual out-of-pocket threshold | $2,100 | $2,400 |
Both figures are ceilings on the defined standard benefit, not what every plan charges. A plan may set a lower deductible or none at all; the out-of-pocket threshold is the point past which you pay nothing more for covered drugs for the rest of the calendar year.
How CMS got to those two numbers
Neither figure is a forecast. Each is last year’s figure multiplied by one published index — the Part D annual percentage increase, 13.65% for 2027 — and then rounded by a rule written into the statute. CMS states the deductible rule:
“For CY 2027, the defined standard deductible amount is updated by multiplying the 2026 amount of $615 by the 2027 API and rounding to the nearest multiple of $5.”
And the out-of-pocket rule, which rounds to a coarser step:
“Under section 1860D-2(b)(4)(B) of the Act, for CY 2027, the annual OOP threshold is updated by multiplying the CY 2026 amount of $2,100 by the 2027 API and rounding to the nearest multiple of $50.”
You can check the arithmetic yourself: $615 increased by 13.65% and rounded to the nearest $5 is $700; $2,100 increased by 13.65% and rounded to the nearest $50 is $2,400. That is the whole calculation. It is worth doing once, because it shows why these two numbers could be published in the spring while the Part B premium — which is set actuarially, not by an index — could not.
What the year’s figures mean for your own accounts
Knowing the numbers is not the same as knowing what to do about the income you report and the accounts it comes from, and an adviser can work that through with you.
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What this does not tell you about your own 2027 costs
Three things sit outside these two figures, and each of them can be larger.
The formulary. The cap applies to covered drugs. Spending on a drug your plan does not cover does not count toward the cap and is not capped by it, which is why the drug list beats the premium as a comparison tool — see choosing a Part D plan.
Your premium, and any surcharge on it. Premiums are separate from the deductible and the cap, and a higher-income enrollee pays an income-related surcharge on top. The 2027 IRMAA tiers are not announced yet, though the income year that decides them — 2025 — is already closed: the 2027 IRMAA brackets.
Enrolling late. The Part D late-enrolment penalty is permanent and is counted in months, so it is earned quietly by people who take no prescriptions at 65: what it costs.
Check the year on any Part D figure you read
This cap has moved every year since it was created, and material written a year ago is still circulating: $2,100 is the 2026 number and $2,400 is the 2027 one. A page that gives you the cap without giving you the year is a page to distrust — which is the rule we apply to our own, on the 2026 cap page and here. The rest of the 2027 figures, and the statutory clock that sets each one, are tracked on the 2027 numbers page.
Sources
CMS, Announcement of Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Medicare Advantage Capitation Rates and Part C and Part D Payment Policies, Attachment V (Part D benefit parameters for the defined standard benefit), read at cms.gov. Statutory rounding authority: Social Security Act §1860D-2(b)(4)(B).
These two figures are set for everyone. The 2027 numbers that instead depend on your own age, coverage or income — and the ones that do not exist yet — are on your 2027 numbers.
Two national figures do not describe a plan: the drug list, the tiers and the pharmacy network are set plan by plan, and they are what moves underneath an enrollee from one year to the next. A plan discloses its own changes in the Annual Notice of Change; comparing premiums instead of drug lists is among the open-enrollment mistakes that cost the most; and which window lets you change a drug plan at all is a separate question from which window is open.