If you have Medicare Part B, there’s one number you’ll meet before Medicare pays its share each year: the deductible. For 2026, it’s a single, predictable amount — and understanding how it fits with everything else can save you some surprises.
What the Part B deductible actually is
The Part B deductible is the amount you pay out of pocket for covered Part B services before Medicare begins paying its portion. For 2026, that amount is $283 — up from $257 in 2025.
Part B covers the “outpatient” side of Medicare: doctor visits, lab work, preventive screenings, outpatient surgery, and durable medical equipment like walkers and oxygen. As you use those services through the year, your share counts toward the deductible. Once your covered costs reach $283, you’ve met it.
A few things worth knowing:
- It’s a calendar-year deductible. It resets every January 1.
- You pay it once per year, not at every visit.
- Some services skip the deductible entirely — most preventive care, like your yearly wellness visit and many screenings, is covered with no deductible and no coinsurance.
What happens after you meet it
Here’s the part that catches people off guard. Meeting the deductible doesn’t mean Medicare picks up everything after that.
Once you’ve paid the $283, you generally owe 20% coinsurance of the Medicare-approved amount for most Part B services. Medicare pays the other 80%. That 20% applies to doctor visits, outpatient procedures, equipment, and more.
And on Original Medicare alone, there is no out-of-pocket maximum. There’s no ceiling that stops the 20% from adding up. For a routine year, that’s manageable. But for a major surgery, a cancer diagnosis, or a long stretch of treatment, an open-ended 20% can become a very large number. That single fact is the reason most people don’t keep Original Medicare by itself.
| What you pay | |
|---|---|
| Before you meet the deductible | First $283 of covered Part B costs |
| After the deductible | 20% coinsurance, with no cap on Original Medicare alone |
If you’d like to put real numbers to your own situation, our Cost Estimator walks through the premium, deductible, and coinsurance so you can see roughly what a year might look like.
How Medigap changes the math
A Medigap (Medicare Supplement) plan pairs with Original Medicare and fills in those gaps. The most popular choice is Plan G.
With Plan G, here’s how a typical year works:
- You pay the $283 Part B deductible yourself.
- After that, Plan G covers nearly everything else — including that 20% coinsurance.
So instead of an open-ended share, your costs become predictable: a monthly Medigap premium plus that one annual deductible. Plan G does not cover the deductible itself — only the older Plan F did that, and Plan F is closed to anyone new to Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. Medigap plans also have no networks, so you can see any provider in the country who accepts Medicare. Keep in mind they don’t include drug coverage, so you’d add a standalone Part D plan.
How Medicare Advantage changes it
A Medicare Advantage (Part C) plan works differently. Instead of supplementing Original Medicare, it’s an all-in-one plan from a private insurer that replaces how your Part A and B benefits are delivered.
With Advantage, the Part B deductible isn’t really the centerpiece. The plan sets its own deductibles and copays — often a flat copay for a doctor visit instead of 20% coinsurance — and it usually bundles in drug coverage and extras like dental, vision, and hearing. You still pay your Part B premium either way.
The big advantage here is the annual out-of-pocket maximum. Every Advantage plan has one, so unlike Original Medicare alone, your spending on covered services can’t run away from you in a bad year. The trade-offs are networks (HMO or PPO) and plan-specific rules about referrals and approvals.
Which path fits you
There’s no single right answer — it depends on your health, your budget, your doctors, and how much predictability you want.
- Original Medicare + Medigap: higher monthly premium, but very predictable costs and any-provider freedom.
- Medicare Advantage: lower or $0 premium, built-in extras, an out-of-pocket cap, but networks and plan rules.
Either way, the $283 deductible is just one piece of a bigger picture. If you want help comparing what these paths would actually cost you — and which doctors stay in the mix — reach out to Bret for a no-pressure conversation. Sometimes ten minutes on the phone clears up more than an afternoon of reading.