This Medicare Plan Will Take A Big Bite Out Of Your Social Security COLA Gains In 2026

Medicare Part B standard premiums will increase 9.7% in 2026 to $202.90 per month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced. The $17.90 increase from 2025 isn't as big as the anticipated $21.50 Medicare cost jump projected previously. But it is high enough to devour a sizeable chunk of the official Social Security COLA increase for 2026.

Every year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) provides a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, in response to inflation as reflected in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI-W index. Due to higher-than-expected inflation, the COLA was raised to 2.8% for 2026, which means, on the surface at least, that Social Security recipients are about to get a 2.8% raise. While Social Security income for retirees varies depending on the average of their 35 highest paying years and what age they retire, the COLA hike averages to about $56 per month, per the SSA.

Unfortunately for that average retiree, the higher Medicare Part B premium, which is also typically paid by retirees on Medicare Advantage, is automatically deducted from Social Security payments. In short, the $17.90 premium hike will immediately eat into whatever COLA was expected. "The public is likely to perceive this Part B increase as taking a significant chunk of or even most of their COLA," Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League, told USA Today. "In other words, another continuation in relentless cost increases battering consumer finances."

According to a report from The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a nonpartisan organization that seeks to protect Social Security and Medicare, Medicare Part B premiums have risen faster than Social Security's COLA for the third straight year. The 2026 premium rate is also 40.3% higher than Medicare Part B Standard's monthly premium in 2020, the TSCL report noted. And, as USA Today reported, the 2026 hike in Medicare Part B is the second highest premium increase since 2022, when premiums went up $21.50 from the previous year.

"Especially since the pandemic, rising Part B premiums have been ruining seniors' finances. The data shows that many older Americans already enjoy a lower standard of living than younger citizens, making a fulfilling retirement feel like a dream that's further and further away," TSCL Executive Director Shannon Benton said.

At least 7 million Medicare recipients spend more than 10% of their annual income on Medicare Part B premiums, according to health policy organization KFF. That figure doesn't include out-of-pocket costs or health services not included by Medicare, KFF added. And that drain on fixed income is having an impact. In addition, the poverty rate for older adults increased from 14% in 2023 to 15% in 2024, per a September 2025 report from the National Council on Aging.

It isn't just standard Medicare Part B premiums that went up. The annual deductible for Medicare Part B increased $26, from $257 in 2025 to $283 in 2026. According to CMS, these rate increases are due to projected price changes in outpatient health services covered by Part B. And they could have been worse, CMS added, if the Trump administration hadn't taken action to lower what it pays for skin substitutes. Center-left organizations, though, insist that Medicare recipients end up paying more thanks to overpayments to Medicare Advantage.

While Medicare rates go up, differing proposals on what to do about Social Security have been made in October 2025. Several Democratic senators are proposing bigger Social Security payments to help offset the cost of rising food, shelter, and health care. The Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act, introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren, would give Social Security recipients an extra $200 a month for the first six months of 2026. However, concerned that the Social Security trust fund could go bankrupt, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) has pushed for a Social Security COLA limit for high earners. If CRFB's plan were enacted, it would mean Social Security recipients with larger incomes will see their annual COLA capped.