Medicare Part D Changes 2027: The Cap Rises to $2,400 — Re-Shop Your Plan Before Dec 7

At a glance: The 2027 Part D numbers are official, set by CMS in its CY 2027 Rate Announcement: the standard deductible rises from $615 to $700 and the yearly out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs from $2,100 to $2,400 — after which covered drugs cost $0 for the rest of the year. Neither number is a reason to keep your current plan: plans re-price premiums, deductibles, drug tiers and pharmacy terms every fall, and the plan that won your money in 2026 can quietly lose it in 2027. Below: the official numbers, three plans priced to the dollar (a $1,024.80 spread on the same drugs), and the Plan Finder routine that finds your cheapest 2027 plan before December 7.

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Most Part D advice published this fall still describes 2026 — useless in the only weeks when you can act on 2027's. The 2027 parameters are not forecasts: CMS fixed them on April 6, 2026, and plans have been building their 2027 products around them ever since. This desk reads the season the way we read everything here — one situation, answered in dollars, checked against the agencies' own documents. Your situation: you take prescriptions, you have a drug plan, and the version you are renewed into on January 1 is a different product from the one you chose last fall.

The official 2027 numbers, in one table

From the defined standard benefit in CMS's CY 2027 Announcement:

Part D standard figures (CMS)	2026	2027
Standard deductible (no plan may charge more)	$615	$700
Yearly out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs	$2,100	$2,400
Standard cost-sharing after the deductible	25%	25%

The benefit runs in three phases, and the donut hole is not among them — it was eliminated in the 2025 redesign. You pay your plan's deductible first (up to $700; many plans charge less, some none, and some cover certain drugs before it). Then comes initial coverage, where the standard design charges 25% of each covered drug's cost. The moment your out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs reaches $2,400, you enter catastrophic coverage: $0 for covered drugs for the rest of 2027.

Three honest limits on that cap, because they decide real budgets. It counts what you pay for covered drugs — deductible, copays, coinsurance — not your premium. A drug your plan does not cover sits entirely outside it, at full retail price. And the cap is indexed to growth in Part D drug spending per person: CMS applied a 13.65% increase to produce the 2027 figures, which is why the deductible jumped $85 and the cap $300 in one year. The protection is real; it is also $300 further away than it was.

CMS projects the average stand-alone drug-plan premium will barely move — about $36 a month for 2027. Treat that number as weather in a city you don't live in. Your premium is in your plan's Annual Notice of Change, and it can move in either direction. Averages will not pay your pharmacy bill; your plan's own numbers will.

Why your 2026 winner can be your 2027 loser

A Part D plan is a one-year contract that renews into a new one-year contract wearing the same name. Between the version you picked and the version arriving January 1, any of these can move:

• The premium. Up, down, or sideways — the number plans advertise, because it is the easiest to compare and the least predictive of your total.
• The deductible. Anywhere from $0 to the $700 maximum, and it may apply to all your drugs or only the higher tiers. A plan that charged $0 in 2026 can adopt the full $700 in 2027.
• Your drugs' tiers. A brand drug moved from a flat copay tier to a coinsurance tier changes what you pay on every fill — and a drug dropped from the formulary changes it to full price.
• The pharmacy terms. Preferred-pharmacy pricing can be dollars per fill cheaper than standard pricing, and plans reshuffle which pharmacies are preferred.
• The plan itself. Plans exit counties and product lines every year. If yours is discontinued, you will get a separate non-renewal notice — and a special window — but the readers who plan ahead choose their replacement instead of accepting one.

None of these changes requires your permission, and one document collects them all: the Annual Notice of Change your plan had to get to you by September 30. (Our Medicare Open Enrollment 2026 mistakes guide walks that letter line by line.) The trap is comparing the plan you remember instead of the plan you are about to buy.

Meet Denise: the same $9,000 of drugs in three 2027 plans

Denise is a made-up example: her plans' premiums, deductibles and copays are illustrative. Every program rule and 2027 parameter around her — the $700 maximum deductible, the 25% standard cost-sharing, the $2,400 cap — is from the CMS and Medicare sources cited below.

Denise is 71, on Original Medicare with a stand-alone drug plan. She takes three maintenance drugs: one brand at a full price of $690 a month, and two generics at $36 and $24 — $750 a month, $9,000 a year of drug cost. For 2027 she prices three real-shaped options:

Plan A — her current plan's 2027 version. Premium $46.80 a month. Full standard deductible, $700. Then 25% coinsurance on everything. Her drug math: $700 + 25% of the remaining $8,300 = $700 + $2,075 = $2,775 — but the cap stops her at $2,400. (She reaches it at $7,500 of drug spending — with her October fill; November and December fills cost $0.) The cap quietly saves her $375 against the uncapped path. Total: premiums $561.60 + drugs $2,400 = $2,961.60.

Plan B — the re-shop winner. Premium $28.40 a month. No deductible. Flat copays instead of percentages: the brand drug at $120 a month on its brand tier, the generics at $8 and $5. Her drug cost: $133 a month, $1,596 for the year — she never comes near the cap, because copays beat coinsurance on her drug mix. Total: premiums $340.80 + drugs $1,596 = $1,936.80.

Plan C — the cheapest premium on the page. Premium $12.90 a month — but the full $700 deductible and the same 25% structure as Plan A, so her drug cost is the identical capped $2,400. Total: $154.80 + $2,400 = $2,554.80.

Denise's 2027, same drugs	Premium (12 mo)	Her drug cost	Total
Plan A — stay	$46.80 × 12 = $561.60	$2,400 (hits the cap)	$2,961.60
Plan B — re-shop winner	$28.40 × 12 = $340.80	$1,596 (flat copays)	$1,936.80
Plan C — cheapest premium	$12.90 × 12 = $154.80	$2,400 (hits the cap)	$2,554.80

Ranked by premium, the plans run C, B, A. Ranked by what Denise pays, they run B, C, A — the premium order is exactly backwards. Staying put costs her $1,024.80 more than the re-shop. Plan C's bargain premium "saves" $406.80 against Plan A and still leaves her $618.00 worse off than Plan B, because on $9,000 of drugs the cost-sharing design matters more than the premium. And one 2026 comparison for the road: under last year's standard figures ($615 deductible, $2,100 cap), Plan A's design would have cost her $2,100 in drug spending. In 2027 the identical design costs $2,400. The cap rise is not abstract — it is $300, charged to the heaviest drug users first.

Get the free one-page Part D 2027 Re-Shop Worksheet — your drug list on one side, the three-number comparison grid from Denise's table on the other, official 2027 figures printed on it. Get the free worksheet (PDF) → or have it sent to your inbox →.

How to re-shop in Medicare's Plan Finder, step by step

Medicare's own tool is the only comparison that prices your drugs in your ZIP code. Medicare's joining guidance reduces to this routine:

1. Start with your drug list, not the plans. Name, dose, and how often you take each one — from the bottles, not from memory.

2. Open Medicare.gov/plan-compare and choose drug coverage (a stand-alone Part D plan, or Advantage plans with drug coverage).

3. Enter every drug. Medicare's own instruction: add all the prescription drugs you take regularly — the yearly estimate is only as accurate as the list behind it.

4. Enter your pharmacy — the one you will actually use. Preferred versus standard status changes your price on the same drug in the same plan.

5. Sort by estimated total yearly cost — premium + deductible + your drugs — and look at that column before the premium column. This is the step that finds Plan B.

6. Open the finalists: each drug's tier, any prior-authorization or quantity limits, and the deductible each plan actually charges (its own, not the $700 maximum).

7. Enroll by December 7 — inside Plan Finder with the Enroll button, through the plan, or at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). The plan must receive your request by December 7; coverage starts January 1. If you are stuck, your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) does this comparison with you, free, and sells nothing.

If you take your result to one number, make it the total. Every other number on the screen is a component.

The payment-plan option: spread the $2,400, never shrink it

See who it helps, and who it does not, in Medicare Prescription Payment Plan.

If your drug costs land early and heavily — a deductible in January, a specialty fill in February — Medicare offers one more lever, worth understanding precisely because it is so easy to misunderstand. The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets anyone with drug coverage pay $0 at the pharmacy and spread the out-of-pocket costs across the calendar year as a monthly bill from the plan instead.

Medicare is blunt about the limit, and so are we: it does not save you money or lower your costs. You will never pay more in a year than you would have paid without it — and never more than the $2,400 cap — but you will pay the same total. Three mechanics decide whether it helps. Your monthly bill is recomputed as new costs arrive, so bills can rise over the year rather than stay level. It works best when costs come early — Medicare's own help page steers people whose costs bunch up before September toward it, and people with low, steady costs away. And you opt in (and can opt out) through your plan, not at the pharmacy counter. For Denise in Plan A, it turns January's $700 deductible into monthly bills. For Denise in Plan B — $133 a month, steady — it adds a bill to solve a problem she doesn't have. Re-shop first; the payment plan smooths what's left.

Two warnings before you change anything

Do not drop drug coverage to "save" the premium. Going 63 days or more without Part D or other creditable coverage starts a late-enrollment penalty of 1% of the national base premium for every uncovered month, added to your premium for as long as you have drug coverage — changing plans later does not erase it. The penalty is why "no drug plan" is the most expensive drug plan. (Creditable coverage or Extra Help means no penalty — but verify the coverage is creditable before you rely on it, not after.)

One charge follows you to every plan: IRMAA. If your income crosses Medicare's lines, an income-related surcharge is added to your Part D premium — Medicare adds it to whichever plan you choose, on top of the premium the plan advertises. Re-shopping cannot remove it; it is set by your tax return, two years back. Our Medicare IRMAA Brackets 2026 guide lays out every tier and what a single dollar over a line costs. What can change an IRMAA charge is time, lower income in a later year, or a successful appeal after a life-changing event — never a plan switch.

Frequently asked questions

Is there still a donut hole in 2027?

No. The coverage gap was eliminated in the 2025 redesign. Part D now runs in three phases — deductible, initial coverage at your plan's copays or 25% standard coinsurance, then catastrophic coverage at $0 for covered drugs once your out-of-pocket spending reaches $2,400.

Does the $2,400 cap include my premium?

No. The cap counts what you pay for covered drugs — deductible, copays and coinsurance. Premiums never count toward it, and neither does any drug your plan does not cover. That is why two people in "the same" benefit can face very different years: one hits the cap and stops; the other pays full price outside it.

My drugs are cheap. Do I still need to re-shop?

You need to check, which is a smaller job. If your generics sit on low copay tiers in your plan's 2027 version and the premium barely moved, the check takes ten minutes and ends with staying. The readers who lose money are the ones whose plan changed underneath cheap drugs — a deductible adopted, a tier raised — and who renewed without looking.

When must I decide, and when does the new plan start?

By December 7, 2026 — your new plan must receive the request by that date, and coverage starts January 1, 2027. Outside the window, drug-plan changes wait for a Special Enrollment Period (a move, lost coverage, Extra Help) or next fall.

I have an Advantage plan with drug coverage. Do I re-shop Part D separately?

No — in an Advantage plan, the drug coverage is part of the plan, not a separate product. You compare whole plans: medical and drug costs together, with your doctors' network status in the same check. The same Plan Finder routine applies, with one more column.

I get Extra Help. Does any of this change for me?

Your core costs are largely set by the subsidy — reduced or no premium, deductible and copays — and Extra Help protects you from the late-enrollment penalty. A yearly check is still worthwhile (your plan's pharmacy terms and formulary move like everyone else's), but the tables in this article describe the standard benefit, not the subsidized amounts in your own plan materials.

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Before December 7, run your drugs through Plan Finder once: the free Part D 2027 Re-Shop Worksheet gives you the drug-list page, the three-number comparison grid, and the official 2027 figures on one printable sheet. Get the free worksheet (PDF) → or have it emailed to you →.

Sources & official figures

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — Announcement of Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Medicare Advantage Capitation Rates and Part C and Part D Payment Policies (April 6, 2026): defined standard Part D benefit for 2027 — deductible $700 (2026: $615), out-of-pocket threshold $2,400 (2026: $2,100), 25% cost-sharing after the deductible; the 13.65% increase behind both figures: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2027-announcement.pdf
• Medicare.gov — Joining a plan (compare plans in your area; add all your regular prescriptions for the most accurate yearly cost estimate; check pharmacies; review premiums, deductibles and yearly drug costs; enroll at Medicare.gov/plan-compare, through the plan, or at 1-800-MEDICARE; changes effective January 1, request due by December 7): https://www.medicare.gov/basics/get-started-with-medicare/get-more-coverage/joining-a-plan
• Medicare.gov — Will this payment option help me? (Medicare Prescription Payment Plan: spreads out-of-pocket drug costs across the calendar year, does not lower your costs; monthly payments can rise as new costs arrive; never more in a year than you would have paid without it): https://www.medicare.gov/prescription-payment-plan/will-this-help-me
• Medicare.gov — What does Medicare cost? (Part D premium varies by plan and can change yearly; the income-related extra amount; late-enrollment penalty: 63+ days without creditable coverage, 1% per uncovered month, for as long as you have drug coverage; none with creditable coverage or Extra Help): https://www.medicare.gov/basics/get-started-with-medicare/medicare-basics/what-does-medicare-cost
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Programs Expected to Remain Stable in 2027 (average stand-alone Part D premium projected to rise from $35.09 in 2026 to about $36 in 2027 — a national projection, not any plan's price): https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/medicare-advantage-medicare-prescription-drug-programs-expected-remain-stable-2027

Last updated: October 25, 2026 — figures checked against CMS and Medicare.gov sources on October 25, 2026.

Disclaimer: The Retirement Desk publishes education, not insurance, financial, tax, or legal advice, and does not sell or endorse any Medicare plan. Denise is a hypothetical example with illustrative plan figures; your plan's 2027 premium, deductible, formulary and pharmacy terms are the ones in your own Annual Notice of Change and in Medicare's Plan Finder for your ZIP code. Confirm your options at Medicare.gov/plan-compare, with your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), or at 1-800-MEDICARE before enrolling.

Filed under: Medicare — The Retirement Desk, the situation-first retirement money desk for Americans 60–75.