The handbook
How to read Medicare & You in twenty minutes
The official handbook arrives every autumn and most of it is reference material. Four sections are worth your time — and one letter that is not in the book at all matters more than any of them.
- Free from Medicare
- Four sections that matter
- Sample figures only
The handbook
What it is, and what it is not
It arrives every autumn
Medicare & You is the official handbook, posted or emailed to every household with Medicare each September, ahead of the Annual Enrolment Period. It is free, and it is the authoritative summary.
It is not personal
The handbook describes the programme, not your plan. The letter that describes your plan is the Annual Notice of Change, and that one comes from the insurer.
Read four sections
What is new, the section for whichever route you are on, the drug cover chapter, and the county plan listings at the back. The rest is reference.
Keep it until January
The plan comparison pages at the back are the fastest way to see what is sold in your county without opening a browser.
Reading it
Three steps, in this order
Do these in order and you will have covered everything that could change what you pay next year.
Read 'What's New' first
Every edition opens with a list of what changed. It is two pages, it is written plainly, and it is the only part of the book that differs materially from last year's.
Check the drug cost section
The annual out-of-pocket cap on Part D, and the option to spread those payments across the year, are the changes people most often have not heard about.
Then read your own ANOC
The handbook tells you what Medicare is doing. The Annual Notice of Change tells you what your plan is doing — premiums, tiers, networks, copays, and whether the plan exists next year at all.
Figures
The numbers the handbook sets out each year
Every one of these is reset annually. The list below shows which figures to look up, with sample amounts in place of the real ones.
| Figure | 2026 sample |
|---|---|
| Part B standard premium | $185.00 a month |
| Part B annual deductible | $257 a year |
| Part A inpatient deductible, per benefit period | $1,736 |
| Part A coinsurance, days 61–90 | $434 a day |
| Skilled nursing coinsurance, days 21–100 | $217 a day |
| Part D annual out-of-pocket cap | $2,100 |
| Part D maximum deductible | $615 |
| IRMAA threshold, single filer | $109,000 |
| IRMAA threshold, married filing jointly | $218,000 |
The letter that matters more
Six checks on your Annual Notice of Change
The ANOC arrives in September from your insurer. It is shorter than the handbook and it is about you, which makes it the more important document of the two.
Is the premium moving?
A $0 plan can stop being a $0 plan. The figure is on the first page of the notice, next to last year's for comparison.
Are your drugs still on it?
Check every medicine by name and dose. A drug moving from tier 2 to tier 4 can cost more than changing plan entirely.
Are your doctors still in?
Networks are set for the plan year. Confirm each doctor and the hospital you would choose, for the coming year, not this one.
Has the out-of-pocket maximum changed?
It is the number that matters most in a bad year, and it moves more quietly than the premium does.
Are the extras the same?
Dental, hearing and over-the-counter allowances are adjusted annually and are a common place for a quiet reduction.
Is the plan still offered?
If it is not being renewed in your county, the notice says so — and that gives you a Special Enrolment Period and certain Medigap rights.
- Anything you want to change has to be done between 15 October and 7 December to start on 1 January.
- Doing nothing is a decision: your plan renews on next year's terms, whatever those turn out to be.
The handbook
Questions about Medicare & You
It is posted to every Medicare household each autumn, and there is an electronic version through your Medicare.gov account. You can also ring 1-800-MEDICARE and ask for a paper copy, including in large print, Spanish, braille or audio.
No, and this is the distinction worth holding on to. The handbook describes Medicare. Your Evidence of Coverage and your Annual Notice of Change describe your plan, and those are the documents that decide what you pay.
No. Every figure on this site is a labelled sample used to demonstrate the arithmetic, including the ones on this page. Take the method from us and the numbers from the handbook, Medicare.gov, or your plan's own notice.
Not much. Everything in it is online, and the part that actually affects your money — the Annual Notice of Change — comes from your insurer rather than from the handbook. Ring us and we will go through the relevant pages with you.
Send us your Annual Notice of Change
A photo of the first two pages is enough. We will tell you what moved, whether it matters for your doctors and your drug list, and whether it is worth changing plan.
- Free ANOC review
- Every autumn
- No obligation to switch
Get a free plan review
A licensed, local advisor — usually the same day.
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