The veteran IRMAA calculator: the asymmetry, in dollars
Enter income by source and this calculator builds your MAGI, finds your 2026 IRMAA tier, and shows the veteran asymmetry in action: military pensions, TSP withdrawals, and SBP count toward the surcharge; VA disability compensation and DIC never do — plus a one-click widow's-penalty preview that reprices the same income against single-filer thresholds.
Veteran IRMAA calculator — what counts, what doesn't
Enter annual income by source. The calculator builds your modified adjusted gross income, finds your 2026 IRMAA tier — and shows, line by line, which veteran income streams never count at all.
2026 premiums are set by 2024 MAGI — the two-year lookback. Married-filing-separately uses different brackets. Income just dropped from retirement, a spouse's death, or another life event? Form SSA-44 can reset the surcharge.
Estimates for educational purposes only — not a quote, plan recommendation, or guarantee of benefits or costs. This website is not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program. For information on all of your options, contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), or your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP).
What the model does with each line
Counted in full: pensions, TSP/IRA/401(k) withdrawals, wages, investment income (tax-exempt interest counts for IRMAA even though it escapes tax — hence its inclusion in that field), and SBP annuities. Counted at 85%: Social Security — the model uses the maximum taxable share, so lower-income mixes may show slightly high; precision belongs to a tax return. Never counted: VA disability compensation and DIC, at any rating and any amount — tax-free income sits outside MAGI entirely, the structural advantage the result panel makes visible. The brackets are 2026's, set by 2024 returns (the two-year lookback), with all six Part B tiers and the parallel Part D surcharges from the brackets page. Married-filing-separately follows different, harsher brackets the tool deliberately doesn't model.
Reading the result like a planner
- The cliff warning is the point. One dollar over a threshold buys the whole tier — per person. The headroom line exists so Roth-conversion and withdrawal timing can respect it; that work is tax-professional territory with the calculator as the map.
- The widow's preview deserves a slow look. Joint filers see the same income repriced single — usually one or two tiers higher — which is the widow's penalty rendered in dollars, two years before it would arrive. The planning levers (conversions at joint thresholds, the final MFJ year, QCDs) live on that page.
- SSA-44 fixes income drops, not threshold halving. Retirement, a spouse's death, divorce — when the event reduced income, the form reprices immediately. The filing-status squeeze alone isn't appealable; it's planned around.
- TFL and CHAMPVA households can't dodge it. Part B is mandatory for both, so IRMAA is unavoidable arithmetic at higher incomes — the calculator just makes it arithmetic done in advance, twice if both spouses pay.
A retirement-year stack — final salary, pension start, a leave payout — frequently buys a tier or two for the premiums arriving two years later, exactly when income has fallen. That's the textbook SSA-44 "work stoppage" case: the surcharge letter is the trigger, the form is the fix, and the retirement-timing guide shows how January-vs-December retirement dates change which tax year does the damage.
Frequently asked questions
Does VA disability compensation count toward IRMAA?
Why does the calculator count 85% of Social Security?
Do both spouses pay the surcharge?
My income dropped since the tax year Medicare is using. What do I do?
Is this the same as the IRMAA on my drug plan?
You earned these benefits. Make them work together.
Whether you keep exactly what you have or add Medicare coverage alongside it, the right answer depends on your health, budget, and how you like to get care.
No cost, no obligation. You can also get help from Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), or your local SHIP office.