Part B premium & IRMAA estimator

Because Social Security sets the premium from the most recent tax return the IRS has finished processing, which in practice is the one from two years earlier.

That lag is why the year you retire often produces a surcharge calculated from the higher income you earned while still working.

Yes. If the fall came from a life-changing event — retirement, the death of a spouse, divorce, reduced work hours, loss of a pension or income-producing property — Social Security can use the newer figure.

The form is SSA-44. You give the event, the date and an estimate of the new income, with supporting evidence such as a letter from an employer.

Yes. The same income tiers add a separate, smaller surcharge to Part D premiums, collected alongside the Part B adjustment.

This estimator shows the Part B side. The Part D adjustment applies at the same bracket.

Because IRMAA is a cliff, not a slope. Going a single dollar over a threshold moves you into the whole next tier for the year.

That is why a Roth conversion, a capital gain or a property sale is worth modelling against the brackets two years ahead.

No. It is an estimate computed from published plan-year figures and the details you type in. It is not an offer of coverage or a determination of eligibility.

Your final premium and eligibility are confirmed at enrollment on HealthCare.gov or with the carrier.

From the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announcements for plan year 2026. They are plan-year stamped and reviewed each January, when the federal government publishes the new ones.

If a figure here does not match what you see elsewhere, check which plan year the other source is quoting first.

Nothing. Carriers pay a commission when a plan is issued, and that commission is already built into the plan price whether you use an agent or not.

Buying the same plan on your own does not make it cheaper — it just means nobody checked your doctors and prescriptions first, and nobody picks up the phone in March when something goes wrong.

No, and no agency does. We are independent, which means we compare across the carriers listed on this site rather than representing a single one — but that is not the same as offering every plan on the market.

We do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 8 organizations which offer 72 products in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.