COLA Went Up in 2026, but Medicare Quietly Took $215 of It

1 day ago 2

David Beren

Thu, June 11, 2026 astatine 8:54 AM CDT 4 min read

Quick Read

The 2026 COLA added $56 monthly for mean retirees, but Medicare's Part B hike consumed 32%, leaving a nett summation of conscionable $38.
Retirees collecting astir $1,280 monthly suffer astir fractional their COLA to the fixed Part B increase, since smaller benefits sorb a larger share.
IRMAA surcharges propulsion Part B premiums to $284 monthly astatine the archetypal tier, and 2024 taxation returns person already locked successful those 2026 costs.
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The 2026 Social Security cost-of-living accommodation landed astatine 2.8%, which added astir $56 a month, oregon astir $672 a year, to the mean retired worker's benefit. But Medicare deducts the Part B premium earlier that wealth ever reaches a slope account. The modular premium roseate to $202.90 successful 2026, up $17.90 from $185.00 successful 2025, and Social Security pulls it consecutive from the check. Annualized, that $17.90 summation eats $215 a year, oregon astir 32% of the mean raise.

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The Math, connected One Line

The Part B hike is simply a fixed dollar amount; the COLA is simply a percent of each person's benefit. So the smaller the benefit, the bigger the wound Medicare takes.

Average benefit: the COLA adds astir $56 a month, the Part B summation takes $17.90, and the retiree nets astir $38.
Benefit adjacent $1,280 a month: a 2.8% COLA adds lone astir $36, the aforesaid $17.90 premium hike applies, and Medicare claims astir fractional the raise.

A flat-dollar premium summation swallows a larger stock of a tiny COLA than a ample one, truthful higher-benefit retirees support much of their raise.

Hold-Harmless Catches Most, but Not Everyone

Federal law's hold-harmless proviso stops the Part B premium summation from cutting a beneficiary's nett Social Security outgo successful dollar terms. Most retirees who cod Social Security and wage the modular premium done their checks volition spot a 2026 deposit astatine slightest arsenic ample arsenic their 2025 deposit, adjacent erstwhile the premium summation outruns the COLA. Three groups autumn extracurricular that shield:

IRMAA payers. Higher-income beneficiaries wage an income-related surcharge connected apical of the modular premium, and hold-harmless does not scope them.
New 2026 enrollees. They had nary 2025 premium baseline to clasp against, truthful they wage the afloat $202.90.
Enrollees not yet collecting Social Security. Medicare bills them straight alternatively of deducting from a benefit, truthful nary cheque exists to protect.

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