Medicare Part D Calculator
2027 Costs and the $2,400 Cap

$2,400 for the year, up from $2,100 in 2026 (CMS CY 2027 Rate Announcement, Table V-2). It applies to covered Part D drugs in every Part D plan, stand-alone or Medicare Advantage, and once you reach it you pay nothing more for covered drugs for the rest of the calendar year.

The standard deductible is $700 in 2027, up from $615 in 2026. It is the maximum a plan can charge: many plans set a lower deductible or none at all, especially for generic drugs.

Under the standard benefit, 25% of the cost of each covered prescription, until your out-of-pocket spending reaches $2,400. Plans can use flat copays instead, as long as they are worth the same on average, but the $2,400 cap is the same everywhere.

Under the standard benefit, $7,500 in total drug costs in 2027 (the deductible of $700 plus $1,700 ÷ 25%). In 2026 it was $6,555.

That is the full price of the drugs, what your plan pays plus what you pay.

No. Monthly premiums, including any IRMAA surcharge, are separate. The cap counts what you pay for covered drugs: the deductible, coinsurance and copays.

Payments by Extra Help, a qualified State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program, most charities and some other third parties also count toward it.

Instead of paying at the pharmacy, you pay $0 there and your plan bills you monthly. In the month you opt in, the bill is capped at (the $2,400 threshold minus what you have already paid this year) ÷ the months left in the year, and you are never billed more than your actual costs that month.

In later months, whatever is still owed plus any new costs is divided by the months remaining. So bills can rise later in the year if you fill expensive prescriptions late.

It costs nothing extra and does not reduce what you pay in total; it spreads it out.

People with high drug costs early in the year. If your prescriptions would put $700 or more on your card in January, spreading it over 12 months can make a big difference to cash flow.

If your costs are low or spread evenly, it changes little. People who get Extra Help usually already pay very little and are unlikely to benefit.

Covered insulin costs no more than $35 for a month's supply of each product, with no deductible, and ACIP-recommended adult vaccines cost $0 under Part D. This calculator does not model those separately, so leave insulin out of your monthly drug cost and add $35 a month per product yourself.

During Medicare Open Enrollment, October 15 to December 7 each year; the new plan starts January 1, and it must get your enrollment form by December 7. Plans can change their premiums, deductibles, drug lists and pharmacies every year, so compare your current plan's 2027 Annual Notice of Change with alternatives on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.

If you are in a Medicare Advantage Plan you get one more chance, January 1 – March 31.

No. If you change nothing, your current plan continues automatically on January 1, along with whatever changes to its premium, deductible, drug list and pharmacies it announced in its Annual Notice of Change. Read that notice first: staying put is only the cheap option if your drugs are still covered and your pharmacy is still in the network.

Not always. Compare the total for the year: 12 months of premium plus what you would pay for your drugs.

Every plan stops your drug costs at $2,400 in 2027, so if your drugs cost $7,500 or more in total you hit that cap in any plan where they are covered, and the premium becomes the main difference. Below that, a lower deductible or lower copays can outweigh a higher premium.

A drug the plan does not cover does not count toward the cap at all.