Medicare Supplement

2026 IRMAA Brackets: What Augusta Retirees Should Know

AUGUSTA, Ga. — As Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period runs through Dec. 7, some Augusta retirees are getting a surprise when they look at their 2026 premium notice: a surcharge on top of the standard Part B and Part D amounts. It's called IRMAA — the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount — and it's not a penalty. It's how Medicare asks higher-income enrollees to pay a larger share of their coverage.

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For 2026, IRMAA starts once a single filer's modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) tops $109,000, or $218,000 for a married couple filing jointly. If you're near those numbers, this is the season to understand how the brackets work — and what you can do about them.

What IRMAA actually is

IRMAA is an extra amount added to your Medicare Part B premium and your Part D prescription drug premium if your income is above certain thresholds. It's set by the Social Security Administration based on your most recent tax return on file — usually your 2024 return for your 2026 premiums.

A few important points:

• IRMAA is calculated per person, not per household. In a two-Medicare household, both spouses can owe it.
• It's tiered. Cross a threshold by even one dollar and you move to the next bracket.
• The Part D surcharge is billed separately from your plan's premium, typically through Social Security.

The 2026 income brackets, in plain English

For most people, no surcharge applies. IRMAA kicks in above these MAGI levels for 2026:

• Single filer above $109,000 (or married filing jointly above $218,000) — first surcharge tier.
• Higher tiers apply as income climbs, with the top bracket reaching income of $500,000+ single / $750,000+ joint.
• Married filing separately has its own, tighter schedule that begins at a much lower income level.

The exact dollar surcharges for each tier are posted on Medicare.gov under "Part B costs" and "Part D costs." Because Part B's standard premium changes yearly, so do the surcharge amounts tied to each bracket.

Why an Augusta reader might be affected — even without a raise

Augusta is in Richmond County, where many retirees live on a mix of Social Security, a pension from Fort Eisenhower or a local employer, and withdrawals from an IRA or 401(k). IRMAA looks at MAGI, which includes:

• Traditional IRA and 401(k) withdrawals
• Capital gains from selling a home or stock
• Roth conversions
• Interest from CDs and bonds (including tax-exempt interest)

A one-time event two years ago — selling a rental property, cashing out an inherited IRA — can push you into an IRMAA bracket for a single year, even if your normal income sits well below the threshold.

What to do if your income has dropped

If you had a "life-changing event" since that 2024 tax return, you can ask Social Security to recalculate. Qualifying events include:

• Retirement or reduced work hours
• Death of a spouse
• Divorce or annulment
• Loss of pension income

The form is SSA-44, available at ssa.gov. Bring documentation. If approved, your surcharge is adjusted — sometimes eliminated — for the current year.

How this fits with the bigger 2026 drug changes

IRMAA isn't the only Part D number worth knowing this fall. In 2026:

• The annual out-of-pocket cap for covered Part D drugs is $2,100.
• The maximum Part D deductible is $615.
• The old "donut hole" is gone — Part D now has three phases (deductible, initial, catastrophic).
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly installments instead of paying large amounts at the pharmacy counter.

None of those changes affect whether you owe IRMAA — but they do affect the total picture when you're comparing coverage during AEP.