2027 Medicare Part D costs: the numbers are already final

In short: Three numbers, all published, all higher than 2026.

The deductible and out-of-pocket cap come from the CMS CY2027 Rate Announcement of April 6, 2026. The base beneficiary premium and the national average bid come from the CMS fact sheet of July 28, 2026. Kiplinger, in its July 28 rundown, made the same point we are making about the difference between these numbers and the Part B ones: "The 2027 Part D base premium, deductible and maximum out-of-pocket limit have been finalized. These numbers are not estimates." The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report carries the same three figures in Table V.E2, a useful cross check: base beneficiary premium $41.33, deductible $700, catastrophic threshold $2,400.

In short: Up to $85 more before your plan starts paying, and only if your plan uses the full deductible.

The $700 figure is a ceiling, not a requirement. Plans may set a lower deductible or none at all, and many do. If your plan charges the full standard deductible, you will pay $85 more out of pocket in 2027 before coverage begins than you did in 2026.

If your plan has a $0 deductible, this line does not touch you at all. Check your Annual Notice of Change, which your plan has to get to you by September 30.

In short: It is the number that matters most, and it is the reason a bad year is survivable.

The $2,400 cap is the strongest consumer protection in Part D, and it is worth understanding precisely, because it is often described loosely. Once your out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs reaches $2,400 in 2027, you pay nothing more for covered formulary drugs for the rest of the calendar year. Not reduced cost sharing. Nothing. Then it resets January 1.

Before 2024 there was no cap at all: catastrophic coverage meant 5% coinsurance forever, which on a specialty drug could still run into thousands. The Inflation Reduction Act removed that coinsurance in 2024, capped the total at $2,000 in 2025, $2,100 in 2026, and now $2,400 in 2027.

A caution worth stating.The cap counts what you pay for covered drugs on your plan's formulary. It does not count your premiums, and it does not count drugs your plan does not cover. A drug that is not on the formulary does not move you toward the cap no matter what you spend on it.

In short: The base premium is capped by law. Your plan's premium is not.

This is where 2027 gets genuinely interesting, and it is the one part of Part D that is not settled. The base beneficiary premium of $41.33 is a national reference figure, not what anyone actually pays. It rose exactly 6.0% from $38.99, and that is not a coincidence: the Inflation Reduction Act caps annual growth in that figure at 6% through 2029. It hit the ceiling.

The national average monthly bid amount rose 23.7%, from $239.27 to $296.05. That is what plans collectively told CMS their coverage costs. Those two numbers moved very differently, and the gap between a capped 6% and an actual 24% has to land somewhere. On top of that, CMS announced on July 28 that it is ending the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration after this year, removing a subsidy that has been holding stand-alone drug plan premiums down since 2025.

We wrote that up separately: what is happening to 2027 drug plan premiums.

In short: 1% of $41.33 for every month you went without drug coverage, and it does not go away.

If you went without creditable prescription drug coverage after your initial enrollment period, Part D adds a permanent penalty: 1% of the national base beneficiary premium for each uncovered month, added to your premium for as long as you have Part D. Using the 2027 base premium of $41.33, 1% is about $0.41 a month per uncovered month:

Our calculation from the CMS base beneficiary premium, rounded to the nearest ten cents per the standard method. CMS does not publish a penalty table.

The penalty rises every year, because it is a percentage of a figure that rises every year. Someone who has been paying a 36 month penalty since 2020 is paying more today than when it started, without anything about their situation changing.

In short: The second round of Medicare price negotiation takes effect at the start of 2027.

Prices negotiated under the Inflation Reduction Act for 15 Part D drugs take effect January 1, 2027. CMS announced them November 25, 2025. A sample, at a 30 day supply, against the CY2024 list price:

The full list also covers Xtandi, Pomalyst, Ofev, Ibrance, Calquence, and Austedo.

CMS reports that about 5.3 million Part D enrollees used these drugs during 2024, accounting for $42.5 billion, roughly 15% of gross covered Part D drug costs, and projects $685 million in beneficiary out-of-pocket savings in 2027 under the defined standard benefit.

One important qualifier. A negotiated price is what Medicare pays. What you pay is your plan's cost sharing on that drug, which is a different number. The negotiated price lowers the base the cost sharing is calculated from, and it moves you toward the $2,400 cap more slowly, which is good, but it is not a price tag you will see at the counter.

In short: There is coverage in 2027, but through a temporary demonstration with unusual rules.

Medicare has been barred by statute from covering drugs used for weight loss since Part D began. That has not changed.

What exists instead is the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, a demonstration that launched July 1, 2026 and now runs through December 31, 2027. It provides Part D coverage of select GLP-1 drugs for obesity at a $50 monthly copay, outside the standard Part D benefit rules.

Three things about it that are easy to miss, and all three cut against the enrollee:

• The $50 copay does not count toward your out-of-pocket total, so it does not move you toward the $2,400 cap.
• The Part D deductible does not apply, which sounds good and simply means the drug sits outside the normal benefit entirely.
• Low income subsidy is not available for it.

A broader demonstration called the BALANCE model was meant to bring GLP-1 coverage into Part D more conventionally. CMS required 80% of Part D plans to participate and did not reach that threshold, so in April 2026 it was indefinitely delayed on the Medicare side.

Note the overlap with the negotiated price list above: Ozempic and Wegovy are on it. The negotiation program and the Bridge demonstration are separate mechanisms that happen to touch the same drugs.

In short: Your own plan's numbers. They arrive on a schedule.

• Aug 13, 2026Page created. All FINAL figures recorded from the April 6 and July 28, 2026 CMS releases.

• CMS, 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Rate Announcement, April 6, 2026
• CMS, Medicare Part D 2027 National Average Monthly Bid Amount Information, July 28, 2026
• CMS, Manufacturer Discount Program final guidance
• CMS, Selected Drugs and Negotiated Prices, and the negotiated price fact sheet for initial price applicability year 2027, November 25, 2025
• CMS, Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, last modified July 13, 2026
• KFF, on the BALANCE model for GLP-1s in Medicare and Medicaid
• 42 CFR 423.2267(e)(3), the September 30 Annual Notice of Change delivery deadline
• Kiplinger, "Medicare 2027 Projections," updated July 28, 2026
• CMS, 2026 Medicare Trustees Report, Table V.E2, transmitted June 9, 2026