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Medicare Plan G does not have a deductible of its own. The one deductible you pay is Medicare’s Part B deductible, which is $283 in 2026. Once you have paid that $283 toward Medicare-approved Part B services in the calendar year, Plan G pays the 20 percent coinsurance on those services for the rest of the year. The high-deductible version of Plan G is a different product: it carries a $2,950 deductible of its own in 2026, set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and published on Medicare.gov, and you pay Medicare-covered cost sharing up to that amount before the plan pays anything.
That distinction causes most of the confusion around Plan G. People hear “Plan G deductible” and assume the plan itself charges a deductible, the way a health plan from an employer does. Standard Plan G works the other way around. It leaves exactly one standardized Medicare cost standing, the Part B deductible, and pays nearly everything else Original Medicare leaves behind. Knowing which deductible applies to your version of the plan, and what counts toward it, is what decides whether your first doctor visit of the year costs you $283 or $2,950.
Does Medicare Plan G have a deductible?
Standard Medicare Plan G has no deductible of its own, but it does not pay the annual Medicare Part B deductible, which is $283 in 2026. You pay that amount once per calendar year toward Medicare-approved Part B services, and after that Plan G pays your Part B coinsurance. High-deductible Plan G is the exception: it has a separate $2,950 deductible in 2026 that you must meet with Medicare-covered cost sharing before the plan pays benefits.
The reason is standardization. Federal law fixes the benefits of every lettered Medigap plan, so every company’s Plan G covers the same benefits and leaves the same gap. The gap is the Part B deductible, and it is the same no matter which company sells you the policy. What changes between companies is the premium, not the deductible. Our full Medigap Plan G guide sets out the complete benefit list; this post stays on the deductible question only.
Plan F used to cover the Part B deductible, which is why older comparisons sometimes describe a Medigap plan with no deductible at all. Plan F is closed to anyone who became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020, so for most people shopping today Plan G is the broadest plan available, and the $283 deductible is part of the deal. The Plan F vs Plan G comparison covers that history in full.
What is the Medicare Part B deductible for 2026?
The Medicare Part B deductible for 2026 is $283 per person per calendar year, up from $257 in 2025. CMS announced the figure in November 2025, along with the standard Part B premium of $202.90 a month. The deductible resets every January 1, and it applies only to Part B services. Your monthly Part B premium is separate and never counts toward the deductible.
Part B covers doctor visits, outpatient care, lab tests, imaging, durable medical equipment, and preventive services that Medicare approves. When a provider bills Medicare for one of those services, Medicare sets an approved amount. The amount you pay toward the deductible is based on that approved amount, not on whatever the provider’s sticker price happens to be. Once your payments reach $283 for the year, you have met the deductible, and Plan G starts paying the 20 percent coinsurance on the remaining approved amounts.
Most people meet the deductible early in the year. A single specialist visit with lab work can clear it, and an outpatient procedure usually does. That is why the deductible rarely feels like an ongoing cost: it is a one-time annual hurdle, and after it Plan G holders typically see no further bills for Medicare-approved Part B care for the rest of the year, apart from their premiums. If you use almost no Part B services in a year, you may never meet the deductible at all, and that is fine too. You owe it only as you use services.
| 2026 Medicare amount | Figure | Who pays it |
|---|---|---|
| Part B deductible | $283 per calendar year | You, until met; Plan G does not cover it |
| Standard Part B premium | $202.90 per month | You; never counts toward the deductible |
| Part A hospital deductible | $1,736 per benefit period | Plan G pays it in full, each benefit period |
| High-deductible Plan G deductible | $2,950 per calendar year | You, in Medicare-covered cost sharing, before the plan pays |
Figures in this table are the CMS 2026 amounts. The Part A deductible is shown because readers often confuse it with the Part B deductible; Plan G pays the Part A deductible, so it never comes out of your pocket when you are admitted to hospital, even though the amount is far larger than $283.
What counts toward the Part B deductible, and what does not?
Only your share of Medicare-approved Part B costs counts toward the $283. That means doctor and specialist visits, outpatient procedures, lab work, imaging, and durable medical equipment that Medicare covers, measured at the Medicare-approved amount. Amounts for services Medicare does not cover, your Part B premium, and prescription drug costs under a separate Part D plan do not count. Part A hospital costs do not count toward the Part B deductible either, because the two deductibles belong to different parts of Medicare.
Two details catch people out. First, the deductible counts only up to the Medicare-approved amount. If a provider who does not accept Medicare assignment charges more than the approved amount, the extra is called an excess charge, and it does not count toward your deductible. Standard Plan G does cover excess charges once your deductible is met, which is one of the features that separates it from Plan N, as our Plan N vs Plan G comparison explains. Second, preventive services that Medicare covers in full, such as certain screenings, may not require you to pay anything toward the deductible at all. Check the service before you assume it counts.
A practical way to track it is the Medicare Summary Notice or your Medicare account online, which shows how much of the deductible you have met. Providers bill Medicare first, Medicare applies the payment to your deductible, and the remaining coinsurance goes to your Medigap plan. You do not need to pay the provider and claim it back; the system routes it. If a bill arrives asking for more than the remaining deductible plus any coinsurance Plan G should have paid, ask the provider to re-bill Medicare and your Medigap carrier before paying it.
What does Plan G pay once the $283 deductible is met?
Once the Part B deductible is met, standard Plan G pays the 20 percent Part B coinsurance on Medicare-approved services for the rest of the calendar year. It also pays the Part A hospital deductible of $1,736 per benefit period, Part A hospital and skilled nursing coinsurance, hospice coinsurance, the first three pints of blood, Part B excess charges, and 80 percent of foreign travel emergency care after a $250 deductible, up to a $50,000 lifetime limit. The only Medicare-covered cost it leaves standing after the deductible is the Part B deductible itself.
The Part A deductible deserves emphasis because it is the largest single amount in the system. A benefit period starts when you are admitted to hospital and ends after you have been out of hospital or skilled care for 60 straight days, so you can owe the Part A deductible more than once in a year if you have separate hospital stays. Plan G pays it each time, in full. That is where much of the plan’s value sits for people who face a hospital stay: a $1,736 charge that would otherwise land in full is absorbed by the plan, while the only amount you ever pay toward Part B care is the $283 annual deductible plus your premiums.
What Plan G does not pay, at any point in the year, is prescription drugs, routine dental, vision, and hearing care, or long-term custodial care. Those need separate coverage. The Plan G pros and cons guide weighs that tradeoff against the premium, and our Plan G complaints and reviews post records what customers report about rate increases over time.
How does the high-deductible Plan G deductible work?
High-deductible Plan G carries a $2,950 deductible in 2026, set annually by CMS for the high-deductible versions of Plans F, G, and J. You pay Medicare-covered cost sharing up to that amount, including the Part A deductible, the Part B deductible, and your coinsurance, and only after the $2,950 is reached does the plan start paying the same standardized Plan G benefits. CMS has announced $3,050 for 2027. In exchange for the higher deductible, the monthly premium is usually much lower than standard Plan G.
What counts toward the $2,950 is broader than the Part B deductible alone. Your share of any Medicare-covered service counts: the Part A hospital deductible if you are admitted, the Part B deductible, and the 20 percent Part B coinsurance on services before the high deductible is met. Services Medicare does not cover do not count, and your premiums do not count. The Part B deductible counts toward the high deductible, so you are not paying $283 on top of $2,950; the $283 is part of the $2,950.
Availability is the catch. Not every carrier sells high-deductible Plan G, and it is not offered in every state. If no carrier in your state sells it, the choice is theoretical. Ask for a quote in your ZIP code rather than assuming it exists, and compare the premium saving against the extra $2,667 of exposure ($2,950 minus $283) you take on. For a healthy person with cash reserves who rarely uses care, that trade can work. For someone with regular specialist visits or a planned procedure, the standard plan’s predictability usually wins.
A year of spending: two worked examples
Two examples, using the 2026 CMS amounts and leaving premiums out, show how the two versions behave. Both assume Medicare-approved amounts and in-network Medicare providers who accept assignment, so no excess charges arise.
Example one, standard Plan G. You have four doctor visits and lab work during the year, with Medicare-approved amounts totalling $600. The first $283 you owe goes to the Part B deductible. The remaining $317 carries 20 percent coinsurance of $63.40, which Plan G pays. Your out-of-pocket cost for the year’s Part B care is $283, plus your Part B and Plan G premiums. The deductible is met at the first or second visit, and the rest of the year brings no further Part B bills.
Example two, high-deductible Plan G. You have a hospital stay early in the year. The Part A deductible of $1,736 counts toward the $2,950 high deductible. Follow-up Part B care adds the $283 Part B deductible and $420 of coinsurance on approved amounts, bringing your counted cost sharing to $2,439. A further outpatient procedure with $2,555 of approved amounts adds $511 of coinsurance, which takes you past $2,950; the plan pays the coinsurance above the threshold, and from that point it pays the standardized benefits for the rest of the year. Your out-of-pocket cost sharing for the year is $2,950, plus premiums, against a lower monthly premium than standard Plan G.
The lesson from both examples is that the deductible question is really a premium question. Standard Plan G charges more each month to cap your annual cost sharing at $283. High-deductible Plan G charges less each month and caps it at $2,950. Neither is cheaper in every case; the answer depends on how much care you use and how much premium you save. Our Plan G cost by age post shows how premiums rise with age, which is the other half of that calculation.
Does the deductible reset if you switch plans or carriers?
The Part B deductible follows the calendar year, not your Medigap policy. If you switch Medigap carriers mid-year, or switch from one lettered plan to another, the Part B deductible you have already met in that calendar year stays met. Your new Medigap plan does not make you pay it again. The same applies to the high-deductible Plan G deductible: it is measured per calendar year, so a mid-year switch to a standard plan leaves you with the standard plan’s remaining obligation, which is only the Part B deductible if it is not already met.
Switching is not always simple. During your six-month Medigap open enrolment period, which starts when you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B, carriers cannot refuse you or charge more for health reasons. Outside that window, most states allow medical underwriting, and a carrier can decline you or charge more based on health. Some states add guaranteed-issue protections beyond the federal rules. Our post on switching Medigap plans after 65 sets out when you can change without underwriting. Do not cancel an existing Medigap policy until the new one is approved and in force, or you can end up with a gap in coverage and a deductible you must meet twice over in practical terms.
Key takeaways
Standard Plan G has no deductible of its own. The only deductible is Medicare’s Part B deductible: $283 in 2026, once per calendar year, and Plan G pays your Part B coinsurance after it. High-deductible Plan G is a separate variant with a $2,950 deductible in 2026, counting all Medicare-covered cost sharing, in exchange for a lower premium. Only Medicare-approved Part B costs count toward the $283; premiums, drug costs, and non-covered services do not. The Part A hospital deductible of $1,736 per benefit period is paid by Plan G, so it never reaches you. Choose between the two versions on premium saving versus the $2,667 gap in annual exposure, and check availability in your state before deciding.
Frequently asked questions
Does Medicare Plan G cover the Part B deductible?
No. Standard Plan G does not cover the annual Medicare Part B deductible, which is $283 in 2026. You pay it once per calendar year toward Medicare-approved Part B services, and after that Plan G pays the 20 percent coinsurance on those services for the rest of the year.
What is the high-deductible Plan G deductible for 2026?
The high-deductible Plan G deductible is $2,950 in 2026, set by CMS. You pay Medicare-covered cost sharing up to that amount, including the Part A and Part B deductibles and coinsurance, before the plan pays the same standardized Plan G benefits. CMS has announced $3,050 for 2027.
Does the Part A hospital deductible count toward the Plan G deductible?
It does not count toward the Part B deductible, because the two belong to different parts of Medicare. Plan G pays the Part A deductible of $1,736 per benefit period in full. Under high-deductible Plan G, the Part A deductible does count toward the $2,950 high deductible.
Does the Plan G deductible reset every year?
Yes. Both the Part B deductible and the high-deductible Plan G deductible reset every January 1. Amounts you paid in December do not carry into the new year, and you meet the deductible again as you use Part B services in the new calendar year.
Do I owe the Part B deductible if I only receive hospital care?
No, not for the hospital stay itself. The Part A deductible for the stay is paid by Plan G. You owe the Part B deductible only when you receive Part B services, such as doctor visits or outpatient care, and only up to $283 for the year.
