When the Medicare premium is announced, and the gap it leaves
Two numbers decide what lands in a January payment. They come from two different agencies on two different schedules, and until both are public the arithmetic is deliberately incomplete.
CMS release dates for the 2018 to 2026 premiums
27 September – 17 November
The earliest in the calendar year was the 2023 premium, released 27 September 2022, and the last the 2018 premium, released 17 November 2017. This page records the dates; it does not predict a future one.
- Adjustment announced
- with September CPIscheduled 14 October 2026 for 2027
- Premium announced
- 27 September – 17 NovemberCMS, 2018 to 2026 premiums
- First payment affected
- January 2027
- Open enrolment
- 15 Oct – 7 Decstraddles both
CMS’s release dates, year by year
Each date is the one CMS states in its own release (“On November 14, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2026 premiums”), and each premium in the release matches the Federal Register notice to the cent. The notice goes on public inspection before it is published; in all 9 of these years that was the same day as CMS’s release.
| Premium for | CMS released | Notice on public inspection | Notice published | Standard premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 14 November 2025 | 14 November 2025 | 19 November 2025 5 days after | $202.90 |
| 2025 | 8 November 2024 | 8 November 2024 | 14 November 2024 6 days after | $185.00 |
| 2024 | 12 October 2023 | 12 October 2023 | 17 October 2023 5 days after | $174.70 |
| 2023 | 27 September 2022 | 27 September 2022 | 29 September 2022 2 days after | $164.90 |
| 2022 | 12 November 2021 | 12 November 2021 | 17 November 2021 5 days after | $170.10 |
| 2021 | 6 November 2020 | 6 November 2020 | 12 November 2020 6 days after | $148.50 |
| 2020 | 8 November 2019 | 8 November 2019 | 13 November 2019 5 days after | $144.60 |
| 2019 | 12 October 2018 | 12 October 2018 | 17 October 2018 5 days after | $135.50 |
| 2018 | 17 November 2017 | 17 November 2017 | 21 November 2017 4 days after | $134.00 |
In 6 of the 9 years the premium was released after Medicare’s annual enrolment period had opened on 15 October (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2025, 2026).
What can be computed, and when
| When | What is published | What can be computed |
|---|---|---|
| Through the summer | Monthly Consumer Price Index releases | A projection of the adjustment, with the assumption stated |
| The morning the September CPI-W is published, in October | September index, then the adjustment and programme parameters | The gross benefit for the coming year, exactly |
| Whenever CMS releases the premium (27 September to 17 November in 2018–2026) | Part B premium, deductible and income-related brackets | The premium side of the net payment, exactly |
| Once both are out | Nothing further is needed | The net payment, exactly. Before then, a net figure would require guessing, and this site does not |
| January | — | The first payment carrying both changes |
Why the gap is uncomfortable
The adjustment is the headline and the premium is the thing that decides how much of it survives. In 2026 the 2.8% adjustment added +$56 a month to a $2,000 benefit; the standard premium’s increase of $17.90 took 31.96% of it back. Between the two announcements, one of those numbers is public and the other is not.
That is also the window in which most bad estimates get published. A premium figure invented before CMS’s release has no data behind it — the actuarial rate that produces it is not public until CMS publishes it.
What this site does in that window
Until CMS publishes the premium, the per-amount pages render the coming year’s gross benefit with its basis printed alongside it, say that no premium for that year is used, and show the net for the year in progress for comparison. The premium is never estimated. When CMS releases it, the figure goes up only once two official sources agree — CMS’s release and the Federal Register notice — or, if the notice is late, on CMS’s release alone with “Federal Register notice pending” printed beside it everywhere it appears. The net figure follows as soon as both the adjustment and the premium are public.
Where the numbers come from
Every premium, deductible and bracket table on this site’s year pages is read from the annual Federal Register notice — the legally operative text — retrieved from federalregister.gov. CMS’s own newsroom release is read as a second source: for the date each premium was announced, and as an independent reading the notice must match to the cent, which it did in all 9 years above. Neither is ever read from a PDF: PDF mirrors of CMS fact sheets have been observed to parse into plausible, well-formed and entirely wrong tables carrying figures from an earlier year. A wrong table that parses cleanly is worse than one that fails.
22 years of Part B premiums are published here, each with its own notice. The full series.
The 2027 adjustment itself is decided by the September 2026 CPI-W. Projection based on July and August 2026 CPI-W, two of the three third-quarter months that decide the 2027 COLA. September 2026 CPI-W is scheduled for release at 08:30 ET on Wednesday 14 October 2026. The projection, with each assumption stated.
Common questions
When will the 2027 Medicare Part B premium be announced?
CMS does not announce it on a fixed date. It released the 2018 to 2026 premiums, with the deductible and the income-related brackets, on dates from 27 September (the 2023 premium) to 17 November (the 2018 premium), and the Federal Register notice went on public inspection the same day in all 9 years. This site does not predict the date.
Why is it a separate announcement from the COLA?
They are separate determinations by separate agencies on separate data. The adjustment needs the September Consumer Price Index; the premium needs the actuarial rate for the coming year, which is a projection of programme costs. Neither depends on the other, so either can come first: CMS released the 2023 premium on 27 September 2022, before the September index that decides the adjustment is ever published.
Can I estimate my 2027 net payment before CMS publishes the premium?
Not honestly. The gross figure can be projected from published index data with the assumption stated. The premium cannot be projected at all from public data, so a net figure would be a guess wearing a calculation’s clothes. This site publishes gross and says so.
Does the premium announcement change the COLA?
No — except at the very bottom of the benefit range, where the hold-harmless provision caps the premium increase at the beneficiary’s own dollar adjustment. In a near-zero adjustment year that interaction can hold the premium down for most beneficiaries and push it up sharply for the minority not protected.
Related
- COLA timingthe September CPI
- Part B premiums22 years
- 2027 projectiongross only
- The net raisethe study
- IRMAA bracketsannounced together
- Part A coststhe same notice week
Sources and freshness
- Federal Register — Medicare Program; Medicare Part B Monthly Actuarial Rates, Premium Rates, and Annual Deductible Beginning January 1, 2026 — verified 10 August 2026
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — newsroom fact sheets, Medicare Parts A & B premiums and deductibles — verified 24 September 2026
- BLS — Consumer Price Index release schedule — verified 23 September 2026
Figures effective 1 January 2026. Page figures last verified against the sources above on 24 September 2026. Corrections: the correction log · support@inventum.com.au