2017 Medicare Part B Deductible
For 2017, the Medicare Part B Deductible is $183 (Deductible) and $134 (Standard premium).
Effective 2017-01-01Source: 2017 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced (CMS)Verified 2026-08-29
Compared with 2016
| Item | 2016 | 2017 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deductible | $166 | $183 | +$17 (+10.2%) |
| Standard premium | $121.80 | $134 | +$12.20 (+10.0%) |
Who it applies to
All Medicare Part B beneficiaries (deductible) and all Part B enrollees (premium)
What changed this year, and why
The annual Medicare Part B deductible is $183 for 2017, and the standard monthly Part B premium is $134 for 2017.
Common questions
- What is the Medicare Part B deductible for 2017?
- The annual deductible for Medicare Part B in 2017 is $183. All Part B beneficiaries pay this amount before Medicare begins covering its share of outpatient costs.
- What is the standard Medicare Part B premium for 2017?
- The standard monthly Part B premium for 2017 is $134. Beneficiaries with higher incomes pay more, and some beneficiaries protected by the hold-harmless provision pay less.
What the Part B deductible applies to
Medicare Part B is the component of Original Medicare that handles outpatient and medical services rather than hospital stays. Before Part B begins paying its share, the beneficiary must first satisfy an annual deductible of $183. Once that $183 has been paid out of pocket in a given calendar year, Part B starts covering its portion of the services listed below for the rest of that year. The deductible applies to the kinds of care Part B is designed to cover, which include doctor visits, outpatient hospital care, certain home health visits, durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs or oxygen, and other medically necessary items. Because the deductible resets each January 1, a beneficiary who has already met it earlier in the year pays nothing further toward the deductible for additional Part B services until the next calendar year begins. The standard monthly Part B premium for 2017 is $134 for those not protected by the hold-harmless provision, but the premium is separate from the deductible - both must be satisfied for coverage to work as intended.
Medicare Part B covers physician services, outpatient hospital services, certain home health services, durable medical equipment, and other items.
2017 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced (CMS)
Part A has its own separate deductible
Medicare Part A is the hospital insurance portion of Original Medicare, and it has its own deductible that is completely separate from the Part B deductible. A beneficiary who is admitted to the hospital must satisfy the Part A inpatient hospital deductible before Part A begins paying its share of the stay. The fact that Part A and Part B each have a separate deductible means that a single hospital admission can trigger the Part A deductible without affecting the beneficiary's progress toward the $183 annual Part B deductible, and vice versa. Part A's coverage scope is different from Part B's: it is focused on inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing facility stays following a qualifying hospital admission, and some home health care services. The two deductibles run on parallel tracks. Most beneficiaries do not pay a monthly premium for Part A at all, but those who do not qualify for premium-free Part A must pay a monthly premium in addition to the per-stay deductible when they are hospitalized.
Medicare Part A covers inpatient hospital, skilled nursing facility, and some home health care services.
2017 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced (CMS)
Why most people pay no Part A premium
Most Medicare beneficiaries do not pay a monthly premium for Part A because their work history qualifies them for premium-free coverage. Specifically, about 99 percent of Medicare beneficiaries owe no Part A premium since they have accumulated at least 40 quarters of Medicare-covered employment during their working lives. A quarter of coverage is earned when a worker meets a minimum earnings threshold in a three-month period in a job subject to Medicare taxes. Because the vast majority of enrollees reach this 40-quarter threshold, they receive Part A hospital insurance without a monthly premium. Those who fall short of 40 quarters may still obtain Part A coverage but must pay a monthly premium, with the amount depending on how many quarters they or their spouse accumulated. The 40-quarter rule is why most people encounter only the Part A deductible when hospitalized, rather than both a deductible and a monthly premium for hospital insurance.
About 99 percent of Medicare beneficiaries do not have a Part A premium since they have at least 40 quarters of Medicare-covered employment.
2017 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced (CMS)
The Part A deductible is per benefit period, not per year
Unlike the Part B deductible, which resets once per calendar year, the Part A inpatient hospital deductible is applied per benefit period rather than per year. A benefit period begins the day a beneficiary is admitted to the hospital and ends after 60 consecutive days without any inpatient hospital or skilled nursing facility care. Because of this structure, a person who is hospitalized, discharged, and then readmitted more than 60 days later starts a new benefit period and must pay the Part A deductible a second time - even if both stays fall within the same calendar year. Within each benefit period, the Part A deductible covers the beneficiary's share of costs for the first 60 days of Medicare-covered inpatient hospital care. After those 60 days, daily coinsurance amounts kick in for longer stays. This per-benefit-period design means there is no annual cap on how many times the Part A deductible can be charged; it depends entirely on how many separate benefit periods a beneficiary experiences in a given year.
The Part A deductible covers beneficiaries’ share of costs for the first 60 days of Medicare-covered inpatient hospital care in a benefit period.
2017 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced (CMS)
Married, living together, filing separately: the income surcharge jumps
Beneficiaries who are married and lived with their spouse at any time during the taxable year, but file a separate tax return, face a much steeper income-related premium surcharge than other married filers. For this group, the income-related monthly adjustment kicks in at a much lower income level than for joint filers. Once income exceeds $85,000, the adjustment jumps to $214.30, bringing the total monthly Part B premium to $348.30 - far above the standard $134 premium. If income exceeds $129,000, the adjustment rises further to $294.60, pushing the total monthly premium to $428.60. This separate-filer bracket exists because Congress designed the income-related premium rules to prevent married couples living together from artificially lowering their surcharge by filing separate returns rather than jointly. The result is that married beneficiaries who live together and file separately face the highest per-dollar income thresholds of any filing status in the Medicare premium surcharge system.
Premiums for beneficiaries who are married and lived with their spouse at any time during the taxable year, but file a separate return, are as follows: Beneficiaries who are married and lived with their spouse at any time during the year, but file a separate tax return from their spouse: Income-related monthly adjustment amount Total monthly premium amount Less than or equal to $85,000 $0.00 $134.00 Greater than $85,000 and less than or equal to $129,000 214.30 348.30 Greater than $129,000 294.60 428.60
2017 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced (CMS)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
2017 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced (CMS)
- Deductible
CMS also announced that the annual deductible for all Medicare Part B beneficiaries will be $183 in 2017 (compared to $166 in 2016).
For the remaining roughly 30 percent of beneficiaries, the standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B will be $134.00 for 2017, a 10 percent increase from the 2016 premium of $121.80.