Seniors hit with 10 percent Medicare Part B cost increase in 2026

[mystery-ak]

 Seniors hit with 10 percent Medicare Part B cost increase in 2026
by Joseph Choi - 11/17/25 3:53 PM ET

Medicare Part B premiums will rise by about 10 percent in 2026 according to a notice from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The CMS released a notice laying out the monthly actuarial rates for Medicare Part B beneficiaries beginning in 2026. For seniors and disabled enrollees, the monthly actuarial rates will be $405.40 and $585.60.

“The 2026 premium is 9.7 percent or $17.90 higher than the 2025 standard premium rate of $185.00,” the notice stated, leaving a total of $202.90.

This jump is almost twice the percentage increase seen in 2025, when the standard monthly Part B premium rate went up from $174.70 in 2024 to $185.

The deductible for all Part B enrollees next year will be $283.

Medicare Part B covers certain medical costs including ambulance services, outpatient hospital services, some prescription drugs, medical equipment, oxygen equipment and services for substance use disorders.

The Trump administration claimed the increase would have been higher had the CMS not taken action on skin substitutes earlier this year. Skin substitutes are biologic or synthetic products used for outpatient wound care.

The CMS proposed in July measures to “reduce waste and unnecessary use of skin substitutes.” The agency cited data showing Medicare Part B spending on skin substitutes had gone from $256 million in 2019 to more than $10 billion in 2024.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General said in September that skin substitutes appear to be “particularly vulnerable to questionable billing and fraud schemes.”

“The increase in the 2026 Part B standard premium and deductible is mainly due to projected price changes and assumed utilization increases that are consistent with historical experience. If the Trump Administration had not taken action to address unprecedented spending on skin substitutes, the Part B premium increase would have been about $11 more a month,” the CMS said in a statement last week announcing next year’s premiums.

“However, due to changes finalized in the 2026 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, spending on skin substitutes is expected to drop by 90% without affecting patient care.”

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, blasted the increased premium rate.

“The across-the-board cost increases in Medicare announced by the Trump Administration show that nobody will be spared from their endless assault on people’s wallets and the public health system,” Neal said in a statement Monday.

“Not content with exorbitant premium hikes for those who purchase their own coverage, Trump has taken action to raise costs for all Americans with employer coverage and is now hiking costs for people covered by Medicare by more than $200 a year.”

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5609430-medicare-part-b-premiums-2026/

[BobfromWB]

Seniors hit with 10 percent Medicare Part B cost increase in 2026
by Joseph Choi - 11/17/25 3:53 PM ET

Medicare Part B premiums will rise by about 10 percent in 2026 according to a notice from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The CMS released a notice laying out the monthly actuarial rates for Medicare Part B beneficiaries beginning in 2026. For seniors and disabled enrollees, the monthly actuarial rates will be $405.40 and $585.60.

“The 2026 premium is 9.7 percent or $17.90 higher than the 2025 standard premium rate of $185.00,” the notice stated, leaving a total of $202.90.

This jump is almost twice the percentage increase seen in 2025, when the standard monthly Part B premium rate went up from $174.70 in 2024 to $185.

The deductible for all Part B enrollees next year will be $283.

Medicare Part B covers certain medical costs including ambulance services, outpatient hospital services, some prescription drugs, medical equipment, oxygen equipment and services for substance use disorders.

The Trump administration claimed the increase would have been higher had the CMS not taken action on skin substitutes earlier this year. Skin substitutes are biologic or synthetic products used for outpatient wound care.

The CMS proposed in July measures to “reduce waste and unnecessary use of skin substitutes.” The agency cited data showing Medicare Part B spending on skin substitutes had gone from $256 million in 2019 to more than $10 billion in 2024.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General said in September that skin substitutes appear to be “particularly vulnerable to questionable billing and fraud schemes.”

“The increase in the 2026 Part B standard premium and deductible is mainly due to projected price changes and assumed utilization increases that are consistent with historical experience. If the Trump Administration had not taken action to address unprecedented spending on skin substitutes, the Part B premium increase would have been about $11 more a month,” the CMS said in a statement last week announcing next year’s premiums.

“However, due to changes finalized in the 2026 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, spending on skin substitutes is expected to drop by 90% without affecting patient care.”

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, blasted the increased premium rate.

“The across-the-board cost increases in Medicare announced by the Trump Administration show that nobody will be spared from their endless assault on people’s wallets and the public health system,” Neal said in a statement Monday.

“Not content with exorbitant premium hikes for those who purchase their own coverage, Trump has taken action to raise costs for all Americans with employer coverage and is now hiking costs for people covered by Medicare by more than $200 a year.”

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5609430-medicare-part-b-premiums-2026/

Instantly absorbing all or most of the 2.8% Social Security COLA.

[Wingnut]

Instantly absorbing all or most of the 2.8% Social Security COLA.

The formula for determining SS COLA increases is rigged to screw seniors.

[libertybele]

Screwed once again!   Who do I thank?

[andy58-in-nh]

The formula for determining SS COLA increases is rigged to screw seniors.

Yep. In which country did the cost of living increase only 2.8% this past year? Because it certainly wasn't this one. 

[rustynail]

Going to need some Rum with this COLA.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Rise more than made up by the passing of an extension to the tax cuts that were to expire end of year

[mystery-ak]

Instantly absorbing all or most of the 2.8% Social Security COLA.

Exactly...me too.

[catfish1957]

Exactly...me too.

Ran our numbers and this Medicare increase is going to eat at roughly half our 2.8% Social Security COLA.

[DefiantMassRINO]

The US Healthcare System is in a slow-motion collapse, from the outside-in, and it is accelerating. 

Our beloved leaders play fiddles while our hospitals close, our wait times in the emergency room get longer, primay care physicians leave public practice for concierge practices, and wait times to see a specialist are so long that you will be dead before your appointment date.

Corporate medicine is failing.  There are only a few ways to make a profit in health care:

1.) deny access
2.) reimbursement rates that are below cost
3.) fraud

Too few people are getting wealthy from the suffering of their neighbors.

The flood of illegal aliens does not help.

[catfish1957]

The US Healthcare System is in a slow-motion collapse, from the outside-in, and it is accelerating. 

Our beloved leaders play fiddles while our hospitals close, our wait times in the emergency room get longer, primay care physicians leave public practice for concierge practices, and wait times to see a specialist are so long that you will be dead before your appointment date.

Corporate medicine is failing.  There are only a few ways to make a profit in health care:

1.) deny access
2.) reimbursement rates that are below cost
3.) fraud

Too few people are getting wealthy from the suffering of their neighbors.

The flood of illegal aliens does not help.

About a year ago, I had an ER visit, and (not kidding) saw an obvious non-speaking illegal in the next room  there for 4 stitches

Not only are they not helping, many have become experts in exploiting the system.  They know Hospitals won't (can't?) turn them away.

[BobfromWB]

Yep. In which country did the cost of living increase only 2.8% this past year? Because it certainly wasn't this one. 

Thank the person that wrote this rule:

Furthermore, the core inflation index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is not used for COLA calculations because it does not reflect the full impact of inflation on household budgets.

[BobfromWB]

Rise more than made up by the passing of an extension to the tax cuts that were to expire end of year

That's great for some, but many seniors cannot work and that extension is meaningless since they no longer generate income to pay taxes in the first place.

[Wingnut]

Thank the person that wrote this rule:

Furthermore, the core inflation index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is not used for COLA calculations because it does not reflect the full impact of inflation on household budgets.

Gee... how profoundly wrong.  Proof that congress lives in an alternate reality.

[libertybele]

Exactly...me too.

Ditto .... add to that the $200/mo increase in our personal insurance = hold onto our britches because our wallets will be empty. Joy!
Can't wait to see how much our property taxes are next month because we didn't qualify this year for a senior exemption because supposedly we made too much money.  Go figure!

[libertybele]

Gee... how profoundly wrong.  Proof that congress lives in an alternate reality.

We need a complete overhaul of Congress.  Too bad not enough conservatives will be running and who can blame them with all the mayhem the leftists have created.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Healthcare costs have been increasing faster than the rate of core inflation for decades.  Maybe Congress should look into this.

[GtHawk]

Going to need some Rum with this COLA.

Don’t forget the

[GtHawk]

Ditto .... add to that the $200/mo increase in our personal insurance = hold onto our britches because our wallets will be empty. Joy!
Can't wait to see how much our property taxes are next month because we didn't qualify this year for a senior exemption because supposedly we made too much money.  Go figure!

Heck I was in the whole to begin with considering just the rent increase we got that hits in December……Merry Christmas☹️

[GtHawk]

We need a complete overhaul of Congress.  Too bad not enough conservatives will be running and who can blame them with all the mayhem the leftists have created.

We need a complete overhaul keelhaul of Congress.

Well thats what I think about it😡

[IsailedawayfromFR]

That's great for some, but many seniors cannot work and that extension is meaningless since they no longer generate income to pay taxes in the first place.

Just about everybody has to pay SS taxes and take RMD withdrawals as well as interest on savings.

I haven't worked in 11 years and found those tax cuts significantly reduced taxes on all of these.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Healthcare costs have been increasing faster than the rate of core inflation for decades.  Maybe Congress should look into this.

Healthcare costs for congressional critters likely are unaffected so it would be a low priority for them

[BobfromWB]

Just about everybody has to pay SS taxes and take RMD withdrawals as well as interest on savings.

NOPE. You are in the minority.

[catfish1957]

Just about everybody has to pay SS taxes and take RMD withdrawals as well as interest on savings.

I haven't worked in 11 years and found those tax cuts significantly reduced taxes on all of these.

Man, do I ever dread the RMD scythe!!!!!

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Healthcare costs for congressional critters likely are unaffected so it would be a low priority for them

And their idiot voters (from both sides) will blindly vote for their tribe anyway...

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Health care costs are rising due, in part, to a bottleneck, we need more doctors, hospitals, etc.