The Standard 2025 Premium
The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B is $185.00 in 2025, up from $174.70 in 2024. This covers outpatient services — doctor visits, preventive screenings, lab tests, mental health services, and durable medical equipment. Most beneficiaries pay this standard amount.
If you receive Social Security benefits, the premium is deducted automatically from your monthly check. If you don't yet receive Social Security, Medicare bills you quarterly. Either way, your coverage begins on the same schedule.
The 2025 Part B deductible is $257 per year. After you meet that deductible, Medicare pays 80% of approved services and you pay the remaining 20% — with no annual out-of-pocket cap. That open-ended 20% is exactly why most people carry either a Medicare Supplement plan or a Medicare Advantage plan.
IRMAA: Higher Earners Pay More
If your income exceeds certain thresholds, you'll pay an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) on top of the standard premium. Medicare looks at your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) from two years prior to set your bracket.
For 2025, the IRMAA brackets start at $106,000 for individuals and $212,000 for married couples filing jointly. Beneficiaries at those income levels pay roughly $259/month instead of $185/month. At the highest income tiers, the surcharge can push Part B to nearly $595/month per person.
If your income has dropped significantly since the tax year Medicare used — due to retirement, divorce, death of a spouse, or loss of income-producing property — you can appeal the IRMAA determination using Form SSA-44 and documentation of the qualifying life event.
What Part B Covers (And What It Doesn't)
Part B covers two categories of services: medically necessary care (treatments, tests, and supplies your doctor needs to diagnose or treat a condition) and preventive services (screenings and vaccines to keep you healthy, usually at no cost).
What Part B does NOT cover is just as important to understand: dental care, routine vision exams, hearing aids, custodial nursing home care, most prescription drugs, and care received outside the United States. Each of these requires separate coverage — either through a Medicare Advantage plan, a standalone Part D plan, or dedicated dental/vision/hearing insurance.
How This Affects Your Medicare Plan Choice
Understanding Part B costs is essential before you choose between Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement. With Original Medicare alone, a serious illness — a cancer diagnosis, a major surgery, a hospital stay — could cost tens of thousands in 20% coinsurance with no cap. A Medigap Plan G (around $150–$200/month in Wyoming and Utah) closes that gap almost completely.
Alternatively, a Medicare Advantage plan might reduce your monthly premium to $0 while adding a different structure of copays and an annual out-of-pocket maximum. Which approach saves more depends on how much care you use, which doctors you see, and where you live.
Our advisors help you model both options with your actual prescriptions, doctors, and expected utilization — so you can budget for retirement with confidence rather than guesswork.
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