Your 2027 Social Security Increase Is 3.6%: What Medicare Takes Out First

October 19, 2026Russell Rogers

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On Wednesday, October 14, the Social Security Administration announced next year's raise. Benefits go up 3.6 percent starting in January. For the average retired worker that is about $75 a month, taking the typical check from $2,095 to $2,170.

If you handle money for a parent, that is the number they have already heard on the news. It is not the number that will reach their bank account. Medicare's Part B premium comes out of the same check first, and the 2027 premium has not been published yet. It usually lands in November.

So the raise is real, but part of it is already spoken for, and the size of that part is known to within about ten dollars a month.

What was announced

The increase reaches 76 million people, including about 72 million Social Security beneficiaries and about 7.3 million people on Supplemental Security Income, whose payments rise on December 31, 2026. The agency's fact sheet gives average monthly amounts, which tell you more than the percentage:

All retired workers: $2,095 to $2,170.
An aged couple, both receiving benefits: $3,238 to $3,355.
An aged widow or widower living alone: $1,936 to $2,005.
SSI for one person: $994 to $1,029.

Those are averages. The percentage is the same for everyone; the dollars are not. 3.6 percent of a $1,200 check is $43, not $75. And the percentage is large only by recent standards: it is the biggest adjustment since 2023, when benefits rose 8.7 percent, and a little above the 3.2 percent of 2024.

The part the announcement leaves out

Part B is the part of Medicare that pays for doctor visits, outpatient care and most of what happens outside a hospital. Almost everyone on Medicare pays a monthly premium, and for most people it is taken out of the Social Security check before the money arrives.

The 2026 standard premium is $202.90 a month, with a $283 annual deductible, set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on November 14, 2025. There is no 2027 figure yet. The best public estimate is the 2026 Medicare Trustees Report, released June 9, which puts the standard 2027 premium at $209.50, an increase of $6.60, or about 3.25 percent.

For the average retired worker:

This year: $2,095 minus $202.90 leaves $1,892.10.
Next year, on that estimate: $2,170 minus $209.50 leaves $1,960.50.

The difference is $68.40 a month, or about $821 across the year. That is the real raise for a typical single retiree, not $75. If the premium comes in at $218, the upper end of what careful watchers of this number have been expecting, the net is about $60 a month. For a couple on the average, the raise is $117 against two premiums: about $104 net on the estimate, about $87 at $218.

Why this year is unusual

Go back one year. The 2026 adjustment was 2.8 percent, and the Part B premium rose from $185.00 to $202.90. That is $17.90, or 9.7 percent, which means the premium grew about three and a half times faster than the check. For anyone paying the standard premium, the raise did not cover the deduction.

This year the raise is 3.6 percent and the projected premium increase is 3.25 percent, so for once the check is growing slightly faster than the deduction. For most people, January should feel like a small gain rather than a small loss.

The premium is not the only deduction, though. A stand-alone drug plan premium is rising too, from $35.09 to $36.00 nationally according to CMS. Medigap is paid separately. And higher earners pay a surcharge on top of everything.

The rule that is supposed to protect you, and why it barely matters this year

Federal law has a hold-harmless provision. If your parent's Part B premium comes out of a Social Security check, the dollar increase in the premium cannot exceed the dollar increase in the benefit. In a year with no cost-of-living adjustment, the premium does not rise at all for those people.

That sounds like a shield, but it only bites when the premium goes up by more than the raise. This year the average raise is $75 and the premium is projected to rise $6.60, or about $15 at the high end. At those numbers the rule would only matter for someone whose entire benefit is under roughly $420 a month. For nearly everyone, it will not change a dollar.

The Trustees Report puts the protected group at roughly 70 percent of Part B enrollees. The other 30 percent are named in the report:

People who enroll during the year rather than at the start of it.
People who do not receive a Social Security check.
Higher-income beneficiaries paying the income-related surcharge.
Dual eligibles, whose premiums are paid by Medicaid instead.

Those people pay the full increase whatever the rule says, and anyone who does not receive a Social Security check has no raise to set against it. That matters most for a dual-eligible parent on a fixed income, and it matters far more in a low-COLA year than in this one.

The surcharge, and the return that decides it

The income-related surcharge is based on the tax return from two years earlier, so the 2025 return your parent filed this spring sets the 2027 amount, whatever CMS does with the standard premium. The 2027 income thresholds have not been published, and the surcharge is a cliff rather than a ramp: one dollar over a threshold moves the whole surcharge to the next level.

If income dropped after 2025 because of retirement, the death of a spouse or a job loss, Social Security can use more recent income instead. That is what Form SSA-44 is for.

What this looks like in Florida

Florida has 5,334,437 people enrolled in Medicare, according to the state fact sheet CMS published on September 28, 2026. The same sheet puts Florida's average Medicare Advantage premium at $2.13 a month for 2027, up from $1.83, against a national weighted average of $12.00. Part B costs roughly a hundred times what the average Florida Advantage plan charges.

For most Florida families, then, the Part B deduction is the line that moves in January. Two cautions. A low premium is not a low-cost year, because copays, networks, prior authorization and drug tiers decide what your parent actually pays. And Florida is losing plans even as average prices fall: 560 Medicare Advantage plans next year, down from 611. If your parent's plan is one of the ones not returning, our guide to which Florida counties are losing Medicare Advantage plans for 2027 covers the county picture and the hospital network exits.

What to check or do

Budget on the net, not the headline. Roughly $60 to $68 more a month for a single parent on the average benefit.
Watch for the notice, or beat it. Social Security posts the new amount in a my Social Security account, and anyone who signs up for digital notices by November 18, 2026 can see their personal figure up to three weeks before the mailed notice.
Compare drug plans during open enrollment. It runs from October 15 through December 7, 2026, and changes take effect January 1. Look at the drug list first and the premium second.
Check the 2025 return if a surcharge is possible. If income fell since then, Form SSA-44 can get it recalculated.
Use the free help that already exists. SHINE is Florida's Medicare counseling program, staffed by trained volunteers who will read the notice with you at no cost. The number is 1-800-963-5337.

Our post on projected 2027 Medicare premiums goes deeper on the premium side. If the raise is going toward care rather than premiums, the bigger numbers are in what assisted living costs in Florida and in how Medicaid spend-down works. And if you are not sure where your parent's Medicare ends and their care costs begin, start here.

The number to actually watch

The 3.6 percent is final, and it is the biggest raise since 2023. It is also only half of a two-part sum, and the second half is still unpublished.

When CMS releases the 2027 Part B premium and the surcharge thresholds, expected in November, we will update this post with the official figures. Until then, the useful thing you can do is small and concrete: find out whether your parent's premium comes out of a Social Security check at all, and look at the 2025 tax return once. The rest is a letter that has not arrived yet.

Sources: Social Security Administration, "Social Security Announces 3.6 Percent Benefit Increase for 2027" (October 14, 2026); SSA, 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustment Fact Sheet (October 14, 2026); SSA, Office of the Chief Actuary, Cost-of-Living Adjustments series; SSA, "Just Announced! Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2027" (October 14, 2026); Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, "2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles" (November 14, 2025); 2026 Annual Report of the Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds (June 9, 2026), Part B premium projection on page 87 and hold-harmless discussion on page 88 with footnote 56; CMS, "Medicare Open Enrollment in Florida, 2027" state fact sheet (September 28, 2026); CMS, "Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Programs Expected to Remain Stable in 2027" (September 28, 2026); Florida Department of Elder Affairs, SHINE program.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much will Social Security go up in 2027?

Benefits rise 3.6 percent starting in January 2027. The Social Security Administration estimates the average retired worker's check goes from $2,095 to $2,170 a month, about $75 more. An aged couple both receiving benefits goes from $3,238 to $3,355.

How much of the 2027 raise will Medicare take?

Medicare has not published the 2027 Part B premium. The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report projects $209.50 a month, up $6.60 from $202.90. On that projection, an average retired worker's check is $68.40 a month higher after the premium, rather than $75.

Is the 2027 Medicare Part B premium final?

No. CMS has not released the 2027 Part B premium, deductible or surcharge thresholds. The 2026 figures were published on November 14, 2025, and the 2027 release is expected in November.

Will the Social Security raise cover the Medicare increase?

For almost everyone, yes. The projected $6.60 to roughly $15 increase in the Part B premium is a fraction of the $75 average raise. Federal law also limits the dollar increase in the premium to the dollar increase in the benefit for about 70 percent of Part B enrollees, but that rule only matters when the premium rises more than the raise, which is rare this year. The other 30 percent, including new enrollees, people not receiving Social Security checks, higher-income beneficiaries and dual eligibles, pay the full increase either way.

When can my parent change Medicare plans for 2027?

Open enrollment runs from October 15 through December 7, 2026. Any change made in that window takes effect January 1, 2027.