Medicare Part D

2026 Medicare IRMAA Brackets: When Higher Income Costs More

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — If your income has climbed in recent years, this fall's Medicare paperwork may hold a surprise. For 2027, Social Security will again adjust the income thresholds that decide who pays extra for Medicare Part B and Part D — a surcharge known as IRMAA, short for the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount. Here in Harrison County, retirees who sold a home, took a large IRA withdrawal, or picked up consulting work in recent years are the ones most likely to see a letter.

Here's what the brackets will look like for 2027, how the surcharge works, and what Clarksburg-area readers can do if the number on that letter isn't a fair picture of your life today.

What IRMAA actually is

IRMAA is not a penalty. It's an add-on to your standard Part B premium and, if you have drug coverage, to your Part D premium. Most people on Medicare pay only the standard Part B amount. But if your income rises above a set threshold, Social Security tacks on a monthly surcharge that gets bigger as income climbs.

Two things trip people up:

• It's based on a tax return from two years ago. Your 2027 IRMAA is calculated from your 2025 tax return. A one-time bump in 2025 income can follow you into 2027.
• It uses MAGI, not just AGI. Modified Adjusted Gross Income adds tax-exempt interest (like municipal bond income) back into the figure Social Security looks at.

The 2026 income thresholds

For 2026, the first IRMAA tier starts above $109,000 for a single filer and above $218,000 for a married couple filing jointly. Income at or below those numbers means you pay only the standard Part B premium — no surcharge.

Above those thresholds, IRMAA is tiered. As income rises into higher brackets, both the Part B add-on and the Part D add-on step up together. The top tier applies to single filers with MAGI at or above roughly $500,000 and joint filers at or above roughly $750,000. Married-filing-separately has its own, tighter set of rules.

Because Social Security fine-tunes the dollar amounts each year, always confirm the exact bracket figures on Medicare.gov before making a big financial decision.

How the surcharge shows up

If you're subject to IRMAA, you'll get a letter from the Social Security Administration — usually in late fall — telling you what your 2027 premium will be. CMS publishes the 2027 Part B figures and IRMAA brackets later this fall, typically in November. The Part B surcharge is deducted from your Social Security benefit along with the regular premium. The Part D surcharge is billed separately, even if you pay your drug plan premium directly to an insurer. That surprises a lot of new enrollees.

If you don't take Social Security yet, Medicare bills you directly, typically every three months.

Life changed? You can ask for a redo

This is the part many Clarksburg readers miss. If a life-changing event has dropped your income since that 2024 tax return, you can ask Social Security to recalculate IRMAA using more recent numbers. Qualifying events include:

• Retirement or reduced work hours
• Loss of a spouse
• Divorce or annulment
• Loss of pension income
• An employer settlement payment

You file Form SSA-44 with documentation — a signed statement from an employer, a death certificate, a divorce decree. If approved, the surcharge is adjusted, sometimes back to the start of the year.

Selling a house or taking a large Roth conversion, unfortunately, is not on the life-changing list. Those are considered planned financial moves.

Why this matters during Fall Open Enrollment

Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7. IRMAA doesn't change which plan is right for you, but it does change your total monthly Medicare cost — and that's worth knowing before you compare Part D or Medicare Advantage options.

A couple of other figures worth keeping in your notebook:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once you hit that, covered drugs cost you nothing more for the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone. Part D now works in three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly installments instead of paying big amounts at the pharmacy counter.

Clarksburg is in Harrison County, where a range of stand-alone Part D and Medicare Advantage plans are available during Open Enrollment. A licensed SHIP counselor can walk through the specific options with you at no cost.