What cancer treatment costs on Medicare
Medicare covers cancer treatment, but it does not cover all of it, and the share left to you depends far more on which kind of coverage you hold than on which cancer you have. Here are the 2026 figures and a calculator that works out the two ends of your range.
Estimate your year
This works out two numbers: what you pay before you use any care at all, and the most you could pay in a heavy treatment year. It deliberately does not guess at a figure in between, because that depends on how much treatment you end up needing and nobody can predict it honestly. Everything stays in your browser.
If you use no care at all
$2,435
a year in premiums, before a single appointment.
Most you could pay
No limit
Original Medicare on its own has no annual out-of-pocket maximum. After the deductibles you keep paying 20% of the approved amount for Part B services — including infused chemotherapy — with nothing to stop it.
Worth knowing
This is the gap that catches people out. If you are heading into treatment with Original Medicare and nothing else, talk to a SHIP counselor about a Medigap policy soon — the window in which an insurer cannot turn you down or charge you more for your diagnosis is limited, and once it closes in most states they can.
Talk to someone freeCheck whether you qualify for Extra Help
If your income is under $23,940 a year for one person, Extra Help would take most of the drug figure above off your total. People routinely assume they earn too much and never apply.
See what you might qualify forWhat this leaves out
- Hospital stays under Original Medicare are charged per benefit period, not per year, so two separate admissions months apart each carry the $1,736 deductible.
- Dental, most hearing and vision care, and long-term care are not covered by Original Medicare at all.
- Travel, parking, childcare, lost income, and time off work are often the costs that actually break a household budget, and none of them appear above.
- These are the official 2026 figures, but your own premium can differ — higher earners pay an income-related amount on top of the standard Part B premium.
The official 2026 amounts
These are set by Medicare and are the same everywhere in the country. Everything else — your plan premium, your copays, your out-of-pocket maximum — varies by plan.
| What it is | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Part B monthly premiumHigher-income households pay an income-related adjustment (IRMAA) on top of this amount, starting above $109,000 in modified adjusted gross income for an individual. | $202.90per month | CMS |
| Annual Part B deductible | $283per year | CMS |
| Part A inpatient hospital deductibleCharged per benefit period, not per year. A new benefit period — and a new deductible — starts if you have been out of a hospital or skilled nursing facility for 60 days in a row. | $1,736per benefit period | CMS |
| Hospital coinsurance, days 61–90 | $434per day | CMS |
| Highest deductible a Part D plan may chargeMany plans set a lower deductible, or none at all, on some drug tiers. | $615per year | Medicare.gov |
| Part D annual out-of-pocket capOnce your out-of-pocket spending on covered prescription drugs reaches this amount, you pay nothing more for covered drugs for the rest of the calendar year. The cap started at $2,000 in 2025 and is adjusted each year. | $2,100per year | CMS |
The gap most people do not know about
Original Medicare has no annual out-of-pocket maximum. After the Part B deductible you pay 20% of the approved amount for outpatient care, indefinitely, and infused chemotherapy is outpatient care. On a regimen billed at $10,000 a session, that 20% is $2,000 a session with nothing to stop it accumulating. Medigap policies and Medicare Advantage plans both exist largely to close that gap, in very different ways.
If you are about to start treatment and have Original Medicare with no supplement, this is worth a phone call this week rather than at the next open enrollment. The window in which a Medigap insurer cannot refuse you or charge you more because of your diagnosis is limited, and in most states it does not reopen.
Talk it through with a Medicare counselor
Every state has a State Health Insurance Assistance Program — trained counselors who sit down with you one-on-one, go through your own medications and doctors, and help you work out what your options actually cost. It is free, it is confidential, and they earn nothing whichever plan you choose. If you only do one thing on this page, do this one.