The Average Medicare Advantage Premium Falls to $12 Next Year. The Programme That Held Part D Premiums Down Is Being Withdrawn.
CMS published its 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D landscape on September 28, two and a half weeks before open enrolment opens. Average premiums fall on paper, and a temporary subsidy ends.
The short answer
- CMS projects the average Medicare Advantage monthly premium at $12.00 for 2027, down from $14.37 in 2026 — a 16.5% decrease.
- The average Part D premium inside Medicare Advantage drug plans is projected at about $7 a month, down $4.32 from $11.32; the stand-alone Part D average is about $36, up by less than $1 from $35.09.
- CMS set the 2027 Part D national average monthly bid amount at $296.05 and the base beneficiary premium at $41.33.
- The voluntary Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration, which has subsidised stand-alone plan premiums, is being discontinued at the end of 2026.
- Open enrolment runs October 15 to December 7, 2026.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published its 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D landscape on September 28. The landscape is the annual set of numbers beneficiaries and their advisers use during open enrolment, which opens October 15 and closes December 7. On the headline figures, costs go down.
What CMS projects for 2027
- Average Medicare Advantage monthly premium: $12.00, down from $14.37 in 2026, a fall of 16.5%.
- Medicare Advantage enrolment: about 34 million people, or 47.4% of the Medicare population.
- Plans on offer: 5,532 nationally, with 97% of beneficiaries able to choose from ten or more.
- Average Part D premium within Medicare Advantage drug plans: about $7 a month, down $4.32 or 38% from $11.32.
- Average stand-alone Part D premium: about $36, up by less than $1 from $35.09.
- Access: CMS says 88% of non-low-income beneficiaries can reach a basic Part D plan at $10.30 or less, and 93% an enhanced plan under $6.
CMS also says roughly eight in ten Medicare Advantage enrollees will be able to stay in their current plan at the same premium or lower.
The two numbers underneath the premium
Part D premiums are not set by CMS directly. Each plan submits a bid; CMS averages those bids, enrolment-weighted, into the national average monthly bid amount, and then derives the base beneficiary premium from it. For 2027, published on July 28, the national average monthly bid amount is $296.05 and the base beneficiary premium is $41.33. What an individual pays is that base figure adjusted for how their plan's own bid compares with the national average, plus any supplemental premium.
The base beneficiary premium does not move freely. Under the Inflation Reduction Act's premium stabilisation provision, its year-on-year increase is capped at 6% through 2029.
The demonstration that ends
Separately from that statutory cap, CMS has been running a voluntary Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration, which paid participating stand-alone plans a subsidy and limited how much they could raise premiums year to year. CMS is discontinuing it at the end of 2026, saying the aim is to return the programme to operating under traditional market conditions in 2027.
That is the context for the stand-alone Part D average rising while the Medicare Advantage drug premium falls. Stand-alone plans lose the subsidy; drug coverage bundled inside Medicare Advantage is funded differently, through plan rebates generated by the bidding process against county benchmarks.
This article is for general information and is not advice about which plan to choose. Plan availability, premiums and formularies vary by county; the official comparison tools are at Medicare.gov and 1-800-MEDICARE.
Sources
- Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Programs Expected to Remain Stable in 2027 (press release, September 28, 2026) — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Medicare Part D 2027 National Average Monthly Bid Amount Information (fact sheet, July 28, 2026) — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Landscape — state-by-state fact sheets — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
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- Responsible desk:
- Insurance
- Published:
- 4 Oct 2026, 05:10 UTC
- Last updated:
- 4 Oct 2026, 05:10 UTC
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