Bill ties Medicare tax thresholds to inflation starting in 2027.
S. 5085 — A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to apply inflation adjustments to the additional hospital insurance tax on high income taxpayers. · Filed by John Kennedy (R-LA) · Introduced Jul 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill changes when high earners pay an extra Medicare tax. Right now, the tax starts at $200,000 for single people. For married couples, it starts at $250,000. These amounts have not changed since 2010. The bill would raise these amounts each year based on inflation, starting in 2027.
Who it affects
High-income earners would pay less of this tax over time. The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund would collect less money.
One thing to notice
The bill reduces money to Medicare without changing benefits or costs.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 22, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 22, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- thresholds — Income amounts that trigger a tax or rule to start.
- inflation — Rising prices for goods and services over time.
- Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund — The money set aside to pay for hospital care under Medicare.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,535 characters) on Jul 30, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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