Wouldn’t that be nice. The honest answer is that one piece of Medicare is free for most people, and the rest comes with a bill.
Part A is usually free. If you (or your spouse) put in about ten years of work with Medicare taxes coming out of your pay, which is 40 quarters, Part A (the hospital side) comes with no monthly premium. Fall short of that and you can still buy in, at $311 or $565 a month in 2026 depending on how many quarters you have. If that’s you, it’s worth talking through before you sign up, whether you’re in Colorado or looking for Medicare help in New Mexico.
No premium doesn’t mean free care, though. A hospital stay in 2026 comes with a $1,736 deductible for each benefit period.
Part B costs everyone something. The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026, and it usually comes straight out of your Social Security check. Higher earners pay more through a surcharge called IRMAA, which is based on your tax return from two years back. There’s also a $283 yearly deductible, and after that you generally pay 20% of approved costs.
That 20% has no ceiling. This is the part people miss. Original Medicare doesn’t have an out-of-pocket maximum, so a big year can get expensive fast. That’s why most people add one of these.
- A Medigap plan, which fills in most of the gaps
- A Part D drug plan, since Original Medicare doesn’t cover most pharmacy prescriptions
- Or a Medicare Advantage plan, which bundles everything together with networks and copays
Which road is cheaper really depends on how you use care, something we broke down in Medigap versus Advantage for Denver folks.
About those $0 plan ads. A $0 premium Advantage plan means no extra premium on top of Part B. You still pay Part B.
Help exists if money’s tight. Medicare Savings Programs, run through your state’s Medicaid office, can pick up that Part B bill when income and savings are limited, and a program called Extra Help lowers drug costs. The details shift from state to state, so it’s always worth asking.
We’re Medicare brokers, so this is our everyday stuff, from Medicare in Boulder to Santa Fe. If you want a second opinion before your birthday, we’re happy to walk through the numbers with you, no strings attached.