Medicare Part D

How IRMAA Raises Medicare Premiums for Yonkers Filers

Yonkers, N.Y. — If your income has crept up in recent years, this fall's Medicare paperwork may bring an unwelcome surprise. For 2026, higher earners will again pay income-related surcharges on top of standard Part B and Part D premiums — and the first threshold sits at $109,000 for single filers. With the Annual Enrollment Period running Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, now is the time for Westchester County retirees to understand how these surcharges, called IRMAA, actually work.

What IRMAA is, in plain English

IRMAA stands for the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount. It is not a separate bill from a private company. It's an extra amount the Social Security Administration adds to your standard Part B (medical) and Part D (drug) premiums when your income is above certain limits.

Two things to know up front:

• IRMAA is based on your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) from your tax return two years ago. So your 2027 surcharge is based on your 2025 taxes.
• It applies per person, not per household. A married couple where both spouses are on Medicare can each owe a surcharge.

The 2027 income thresholds

For 2026, the first IRMAA tier starts above $109,000 for individual filers and above $218,000 for married couples filing jointly. From there, the surcharge climbs in steps, with the highest tier kicking in at very high incomes (roughly $500,000 for singles and $750,000 for joint filers).

The exact dollar amounts of the surcharges at each tier are published by CMS at Medicare.gov. CMS announces the 2027 IRMAA brackets and surcharges later this fall, usually in November. If you fall just over a bracket, even by a small amount, you jump to the next tier — there is no gradual phase-in.

Married and filing separately? The rules are stricter, with much lower thresholds. Check Medicare.gov before assuming where you land.

How you'll find out you owe it

You don't apply for IRMAA and you don't calculate it yourself. Each fall, the Social Security Administration pulls your IRS return from two years earlier and mails a predetermination notice if you're affected. The surcharge is then deducted from your Social Security check, or billed directly if you don't yet receive Social Security.

For 2027, that means your 2025 tax return is doing the talking. If 2025 was an unusually high year — say, you sold a home, took a large IRA withdrawal, or converted a traditional IRA to a Roth — it can push you into a bracket you don't feel like you belong in today.

Life-changing events: when you can appeal

Here's the part many people miss. If your income has dropped because of a specific life event, you can ask Social Security to use more recent numbers instead. Qualifying events include:

• Retirement or reduced work hours
• Death of a spouse
• Marriage or divorce
• Loss of pension income
• Loss of income-producing property (not from your own choice, like an ordinary sale)

You file Form SSA-44 with documentation. Yonkers residents can bring it to the Social Security office on South Broadway, or mail it in. Approvals are common when the paperwork is clean.

Why this matters during Open Enrollment

Yonkers is in Westchester County, where Medicare beneficiaries have a range of Part D and Medicare Advantage options to consider between now and Dec. 7. For 2027, the county has 62 Medicare Advantage plans from 15 carriers, compared with 77 plans from 16 carriers in 2026; 20 plans are not returning, 8 are new, 3 are renamed, and 18 continuing plans change something in their terms (the ANOC has the details). IRMAA doesn't change which plan you pick — the surcharge is added on top of whatever Part B and Part D premium you'd otherwise pay. But knowing whether you'll owe a surcharge helps you budget honestly for the year ahead.

A few other figures worth keeping in mind as you plan for 2027:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your drug costs hit that ceiling, you pay nothing for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• The Part D deductible maximum is $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027, and the old "donut hole" coverage gap is gone — Part D now has three phases, not four.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the calendar year in monthly installments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.