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How much does Medicare cost per month?

Most people pay nothing for Part A, a monthly premium for Part B, and more for drug coverage and a supplement or Advantage plan. The figures reset every January.

Updated September 3, 2026 · 4 min read · by Gerino Alejos

There is no single Medicare premium. A premium is the monthly bill for coverage, and with Medicare you can have several. What you pay is the sum of those separate charges, and only some of them are the same for everyone.

Every piece that has a price is below. See what each part of Medicare is.

Part A: usually zero

Part A is the part of Medicare that pays for hospital stays. If you or your spouse paid Medicare taxes for roughly 10 years of work, Part A has no monthly premium. See why Part A has no premium and what you still pay.

If you did not reach that work history, you can buy Part A, and it is expensive. This comes up most often for people who spent their careers outside the United States.

Part A still has a deductible, which is the amount you pay yourself before Medicare starts paying, when you are admitted to the hospital. It is charged per benefit period, not per year, so you can pay it more than once in a single year.

Part B: the premium nearly everyone pays

Part B is the part that pays for doctor visits and outpatient care, which is care you get without being admitted to the hospital. It has a standard monthly premium set by the federal government, and it changes every January. For most people it is taken out of the Social Security check. See why your Part B premium can differ from the standard amount.

If your income is higher, you pay the standard premium plus a surcharge called the Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA). It is based on your tax return from two years earlier. That catches people off guard the year after they sell a house or take a large withdrawal from a retirement account.

Part B also has its own yearly deductible. After you meet it, you generally pay 20 percent of the cost of covered services, with no upper limit. On a $10,000 bill, Medicare pays $8,000 and you pay $2,000.

Part D: the prescription drug premium

Part D is the part of Medicare that pays for prescriptions. A standalone drug plan, one you buy on its own to go with Original Medicare, has its own monthly premium, and it varies a lot from plan to plan. On top of the premium you have a deductible, and then copays, which are set amounts you pay per prescription. The copay depends on the tier your medication is in, and a tier is the price group the plan puts each drug in.

If your income is high, you pay an IRMAA surcharge on Part D too, not just Part B.

There is now a yearly cap on what you pay out of pocket for covered drugs. It replaced the old coverage gap most people knew as the donut hole.

Medigap or Medicare Advantage: the coverage you add

This is where you have the most control over your cost.

• A Medicare Supplement, also called Medigap, is private insurance that adds a monthly premium. In exchange, most or all of that 20 percent goes away. Premiums vary widely by plan letter, age, gender, tobacco use and insurance company.
• A Medicare Advantage plan, a private plan that delivers your Medicare coverage, often adds nothing to your monthly cost. Many plans in this area have a zero dollar premium. Instead, you pay copays as you use care, up to a yearly out of pocket maximum, which is the most the plan can make you pay in a year.

A zero dollar premium does not mean there is nothing to pay. Your costs arrive as copays when you need care, rather than as a bill every month. Which path costs you less depends on how much care you use. See what a zero premium plan really means.

Programs that help pay Medicare costs

Two programs matter here, and both are underused in South Texas.

• Extra Help, also called the Low Income Subsidy, is a federal program that cuts what you pay for Part D drug coverage by a large amount.
• Medicare Savings Programs can pay your Part B premium for you, which puts that money back in your Social Security check every month.

Both have income and asset limits that change every year. It costs nothing to find out whether you qualify.

Where to get the exact current numbers

The Part B premium, both deductibles, the IRMAA income brackets and the drug cap all reset every January. Rather than print figures here that go out of date, check Medicare.gov for the current year.

To work out your own monthly total, add the Part B premium, a drug plan premium if you have one, and a supplement premium if you choose that path. Then check whether Extra Help or a Medicare Savings Program applies to you. Call our office in McAllen and we will read you the current numbers for your situation.

Gerino Alejos

Licensed insurance agent · License 3128710 · NPN 18243381

Owner of McAllen Insurance Group, an independent agency on North 10th Street in McAllen. Works with clients across Hidalgo, Cameron and Starr counties on Medicare, Marketplace health, life and auto coverage. Se habla español.