Free calculator
Part A premium calculator
Most people pay nothing for Part A, because they earned it at work. If you did not earn 40 quarters of coverage, Part A has a price — and there are two of them, depending on how close you got.
- No email wall
- Three bands, one answer
- Checks a spouse's record too
Run the numbers
How many quarters of coverage have you earned?
Your Part A premium
$285 a month
30 to 39 quarters of coverage puts you in the reduced premium band for Part A.
- Quarters of coverage entered
- 34 (about 8.5 years of covered work)
- Band you fall in
- 30 to 39 quarters
- Part A premium
- $285 a month
- Cost over a year
- $3,420
- Quarters still to earn for premium-free Part A
- 6
Check a spouse's work record before you buy Part A — many people who do not qualify on their own record qualify on someone else's.
The rule
Three bands, and nothing in between
Part A is the one part of Medicare you can genuinely earn. Pay Medicare tax for long enough and the monthly premium disappears altogether. Fall short and you land in one of two priced bands — there is no sliding scale between them.
40+ quarters → $0 · 30 to 39 quarters → $285 a month · under 30 → $518 a month
If you are short, two routes are worth checking before you buy. A spouse's record can qualify you outright. And working a little longercan be worth thousands: six quarters — eighteen months — is the difference between the top band and the middle one, and between the middle one and free.
| Quarters of coverage | Roughly | Each month | Each year | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 or more | 10 years or more | $0 | $0 | Premium-free Part A |
| 30 to 39 | about 7½ to 10 years | $285 | $3,420 | Reduced premium |
| Fewer than 30 | under about 7½ years | $518 | $6,216 | Full premium |
Worth checking
What people ask about Part A
A credit you earn by working and paying Medicare tax. You can earn up to four a year, and the earnings needed for one are set annually — a part-time year can still produce all four. Your Social Security statement lists your total.
Very often, yes. A current spouse of at least one year, a divorced spouse where the marriage lasted ten years or more, or a surviving spouse can all qualify on the other person's record. Check this before you buy Part A — it is the most commonly missed saving on this page.
No. It means the monthly premium is nothing. You still meet the Part A hospital deductible each benefit period, and daily coinsurance begins after day 60 of a stay. That is exactly the gap a Medicare Supplement is built to close.
Only if you have to buy it. Anyone paying a Part A premium who enrols late can face a 10% surcharge for twice the number of years they delayed — a fixed term, not for life as with Part B.
2026 plan year
The figures this calculator uses
Sample figures for the 2026 plan year. Medicare and the Marketplace reset these every autumn.
- Part A premium, fewer than 30 quarters (2026 sample)
- $518 a month
- Part A premium, 30 to 39 quarters (2026 sample)
- $285 a month
- Part A premium, 40 or more quarters
- $0 — premium-free
Every figure above is a sample for the 2026 plan year on a demonstration site. Medicare publishes the real ones each autumn at Medicare.gov, and they change every year.