Medicare has several different deductibles depending on which parts of the program cover your care. Part A has a per-stay deductible for hospital visits, Part B has an annual deductible for outpatient and doctor services, and Part D has a separate deductible for prescription drugs. Each one works differently, resets on its own schedule, and applies to different types of care.
The Part A Hospital Deductible
Part A covers inpatient hospital stays, and its deductible works unlike most insurance you may be used to. Instead of resetting once a year, the Part A deductible resets each “benefit period.” A benefit period starts the day you’re admitted to a hospital and ends once you’ve gone 60 consecutive days without being an inpatient in a hospital or skilled nursing facility. If you’re hospitalized again after that 60-day window, a new benefit period begins and you owe the deductible again.
The Part A deductible is $1,736 in 2026. That means if you’re admitted to the hospital twice in one year but the stays fall within different benefit periods, you’d pay $1,736 each time. On the other hand, if you’re discharged and readmitted within the same benefit period, you don’t owe a second deductible.
This structure also applies to skilled nursing facility care. If you’ve already paid the Part A deductible during a hospital stay in the same benefit period, you won’t owe it again when you transfer to a skilled nursing facility. Once the deductible is met, Medicare covers the first 20 days of skilled nursing care with no daily cost to you. Days 21 through 100 come with a daily coinsurance of $217 in 2026, and after day 100 you’re responsible for the full cost.
The Part B Annual Deductible
Part B covers doctor visits, outpatient procedures, lab tests, durable medical equipment, and similar services. Its deductible is simpler: you pay a flat amount once per calendar year before Medicare starts sharing costs. The Part B deductible is $257 in 2025 and rises to $283 in 2026. Once you’ve spent that amount on covered Part B services, Medicare typically pays 80% of approved charges for the rest of the year, and you pay the remaining 20%.
One important exception: most preventive services skip the deductible entirely. You pay nothing for screenings and preventive care as long as your provider accepts Medicare’s approved payment amount. This includes mammograms, colonoscopies, flu and COVID-19 vaccines, annual wellness visits, diabetes and cardiovascular screenings, lung cancer screenings, depression screenings, and many others. The full list is extensive, covering everything from hepatitis B shots to obesity counseling. These zero-cost preventive services apply regardless of whether you’ve met your deductible.
The Part D Prescription Drug Deductible
Part D covers prescription medications, and its deductible varies by plan. The maximum allowable Part D deductible is $590 in 2025, though many plans set theirs lower or waive it for certain drug categories like generics. Until you meet your plan’s deductible, you pay 100% of your covered drug costs out of pocket.
Starting in 2025, Part D underwent significant changes under the Inflation Reduction Act. The most notable is a hard cap of $2,000 on total out-of-pocket drug spending per year. The old coverage gap (sometimes called the “donut hole”), where enrollees faced higher cost-sharing after reaching a spending threshold, has been eliminated. Once you hit the $2,000 cap, your plan covers the rest of your drug costs for the year. That $2,000 cap will increase slightly each year, indexed to the growth in Part D costs per person.
How Medicare Advantage Plans Handle Deductibles
Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans are offered by private insurers as an alternative to Original Medicare. These plans must cover everything Part A and Part B cover, but they set their own deductible amounts, copays, and coinsurance. Some plans have no deductible at all for certain services, while others combine medical and drug deductibles into a single structure. The specifics vary widely by plan and change each year, so the only way to know your deductible is to check your plan’s summary of benefits.
Most Medicare Advantage plans include Part D drug coverage built in. When they do, the drug deductible is separate from the medical deductible and follows Part D rules, though the exact amount depends on the plan.
Covering Your Deductible With Medigap
If you have Original Medicare (not Medicare Advantage), you can purchase a Medigap supplemental policy to help cover deductibles and coinsurance. Several Medigap plans cover the Part A deductible in full, including Plans C, D, and F. Plans K and M cover 50% of the Part A deductible, and Plan L covers 75%.
The Part B deductible is a different story. No Medigap plan currently sold covers the Part B deductible. Plans C and F used to cover it, but they’ve been closed to anyone who turned 65 on or after January 1, 2020. If you were eligible for Medicare before that date, you may still be able to enroll in one of those plans, but new enrollees cannot.
Medigap plans do not apply to Part D drug costs. If you want help with prescription drug expenses, you’d need to enroll in a standalone Part D plan or a Medicare Advantage plan that includes drug coverage.
When Each Deductible Resets
The reset schedule is the part that trips people up most. Part B and Part D deductibles reset on January 1 each year, like standard health insurance. Part A is the outlier: it resets every time a new benefit period begins, which can happen multiple times in a single year or not at all if you don’t have any inpatient stays. There’s no annual limit on the number of benefit periods you can have, which means frequent hospitalizations with gaps of 60 or more days between them can add up quickly.
Keeping track of which deductible applies to which service helps you anticipate costs. A doctor’s office visit hits your Part B deductible. A hospital admission hits Part A. Picking up a prescription at the pharmacy counts toward Part D. And preventive care, in most cases, costs you nothing regardless of where you stand with any deductible.