Historical Medicare Part B Premiums: 1966 to 2026

Historical Medicare Part B premiums run from $3.00 a month when the program launched in July 1966 to $202.90 a month in 2026. The climb has not been steady: the standard premium has fallen outright three times, frozen for a year or more on several occasions, and jumped by double digits in a handful of years driven by specific policy or drug-spending events. The full year-by-year figures are below, followed by the rules and one-off events that explain the shape of the curve.

Standard Monthly Part B Premium, 1966–2026

1966 through 1990

1966–1967: $3.00
1968–1969: $4.00
1970: $5.30
1971: $5.60
1972: $5.80
1973: $6.30
1974: $6.70
1975: $6.70
1976: $7.20
1977: $7.70
1978: $8.20
1979: $8.70
1980: $9.60
1981: $11.00
1982: $12.20
1983: $12.20
1984: $14.60
1985: $15.50
1986: $15.50
1987: $17.90
1988: $24.80
1989: $31.90 (includes a supplemental flat premium under the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988)
1990: $28.60

Premiums were effective in July through 1983 and in January starting in 1984.¹

1991 through 2009

1991: $29.90
1992: $31.80
1993: $36.60
1994: $41.10
1995: $46.10
1996: $42.50
1997: $43.80
1998: $43.80
1999: $45.50
2000: $45.50
2001: $50.00
2002: $54.00
2003: $58.70
2004: $66.60
2005: $78.20
2006: $88.50
2007: $93.50
2008: $96.40
2009: $96.40

The premium dropped from $46.10 to $42.50 between 1995 and 1996, then held flat again from 2008 to 2009.²³

2010 through 2026

2010: $110.50
2011: $115.40
2012: $99.90
2013: $104.90
2014: $104.90
2015: $104.90
2016: $121.80
2017: $134.00
2018: $134.00
2019: $135.50
2020: $144.60
2021: $148.50
2022: $170.10
2023: $164.90
2024: $174.70
2025: $185.00
2026: $202.90

Read these numbers with one caveat: the 2010 and 2011 figures are the published standard, but most enrollees kept paying the 2009 rate of $96.40 those years because of the hold-harmless provision described below.⁴ The 2026 figure is $17.90 above the prior year.⁵

Why the Premium Moves

By statute, beneficiary premiums are set each year to cover 25 percent of the expected average cost of Part B coverage for aged enrollees, with general federal revenues covering the other 75 percent.⁶ That 25 percent rule has governed the calculation since the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.⁷ Because the premium tracks projected program spending, it rises whenever CMS expects utilization or prices to grow, and it can fall when trust fund reserves come in higher than needed. CMS typically announces the following year’s figure in the fall.

The Anomalies in the Table

A few years stand out and deserve a note so the sequence makes sense.

1989 and 1990. The 1989 premium of $31.90 included a supplemental flat premium enacted under the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988. Congress repealed the law, and the premium dropped to $28.60 in 1990.¹

1996. The premium fell from $46.10 to $42.50, reflecting cost controls of the Balanced Budget Act era.

2004 to 2005. The jump from $66.60 to $78.20 was a 17.4 percent increase, the largest single-year percentage rise in the past two decades.⁸

2010 through 2015. Because Social Security announced no cost-of-living adjustment for 2010, 2011, and 2016, most beneficiaries were shielded from the published increases by the hold-harmless rule. During 2013–2015 the premium held flat at $104.90 for three consecutive years.

2016. The standard was projected to rise to $159.30 for non-protected enrollees, but the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 intervened, setting the standard at $121.80 (including a $3 monthly surcharge to recover lost revenue). The roughly 70 percent of beneficiaries protected by hold-harmless continued paying $104.90.⁹

2022 and 2023. The $21.60 increase from 2021 to 2022 was the largest dollar-amount rise in program history, a 14.5 percent spike driven partly by projected spending on the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm.⁸ Actual spending came in far lower, and CMS returned excess reserves by lowering the 2023 premium to $164.90, the first decrease in more than a decade.¹⁰

2026. CMS noted the standard premium would have been roughly $11 per month higher without regulatory actions targeting spending on skin substitutes, finalized in the 2026 Physician Fee Schedule.⁵

Hold-Harmless: Why Some Years Have Two Premiums

The hold-harmless provision, codified in Section 1839(f) of the Social Security Act, prevents a beneficiary’s monthly Social Security check from decreasing because of a Part B premium increase. When the annual Social Security COLA is too small to absorb the full premium hike, the provision caps that individual’s premium increase at the amount of the COLA.¹¹

In zero-COLA years (2010, 2011, 2016), roughly 70 percent of enrollees paid the prior year’s premium while the roughly 30 percent not protected — new enrollees, those who pay premiums directly rather than through Social Security deductions, dual Medicare-Medicaid beneficiaries whose premiums are paid by their state, and higher-income beneficiaries subject to income-related surcharges — absorbed larger increases to make up the difference.¹²¹³ That is why the published figures for 2010 ($110.50) and 2011 ($115.40) do not describe what most enrollees actually paid.

Higher-Income Beneficiaries Have Paid More Since 2007

The standard premium tells only part of the story for higher earners. Starting in 2007, Medicare added an income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) on top of the standard Part B premium. The surcharge was phased in over three years and reached its full first-year structure in 2009, when the top tier paid a total of $308.30 per month.³ Today IRMAA affects roughly 8 percent of Part B enrollees.⁵ For 2026, individuals earning $109,000 or less ($218,000 for joint filers) pay the standard $202.90, and the highest tier — individual income of $500,000 or more, or joint income of $750,000 or more — pays $689.90 per month.¹⁴

What the Numbers Don’t Include

The premium figures above are the monthly cost of Part B coverage only. They do not include the annual Part B deductible, which sat at $50 from 1966 through 1972, held at $100 for 14 straight years from 1991 through 2004, and reached $283 for 2026.²⁵ They also do not include the late enrollment penalty, which adds 10 percent to the standard premium for each full 12-month period a person was eligible but not enrolled, applied for as long as the person has Part B.¹⁵ A two-year delay in 2026, for example, would add $40.58 to the standard $202.90.

Where Premiums Are Headed

The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report projects the Part B premium at $210 per month in 2027, a 3.3 percent increase, with continued growth across the 10-year projection window.¹⁶ Because Part B is recalculated each year to cover 25 percent of program spending, the premium tracks whatever happens to utilization, drug prices, and the size of the enrolled population.

1
SSA. Annual Statistical Supplement, 2005 – Table 2.C1
2
SSA. Annual Statistical Supplement, 2011 – Table 2.C1
3
CMS. CMS Announces Medicare Premiums, Deductibles for 2009
4
SSA. POMS HI 01001.014 – Part B Premium Amounts
5
CMS. 2026 Medicare Parts B Premiums and Deductibles
6
MedPAC. At a Crossroads in Medicare: Assessing Payment Adequacy
7
EveryCRSReport. Medicare: Part B Premiums
8
KFF. Monthly Part B Premiums and Annual Percentage Increases
9
NARFE. 2016 Medicare Premiums and the Hold-Harmless Provision
10
CMS. 2023 Medicare Parts B Premiums and Deductibles
11
SSA. Medicare Part B Premium Information
12
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. How Does the Medicare Part B Premium Affect Social Security Claiming?
13
KFF. The Medicare Part B Premium and Hold-Harmless Provision
14
Medicare.gov. Medicare Costs (Product No. 11579)
15
Medicare.gov. Avoid Medicare Penalties
16
KFF. Key Facts About Medicare Spending Trends and Projections From the 2026 Medicare Trustees Report