President Trump said he’s planning to send $500 checks to about 1 million people who he claims were “massively” overcharged for Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage.
Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press
But the checks will only go to people who live in one of 30 states that use the federal government’s ACA exchange and who don’t receive federal subsidies, leaving out about 18 million people.
In a recorded video posted to the White House’s account on the social platform X, Trump alleged without evidence that the Biden administration was “massively” overcharging enrollees on the federal health insurance exchange and then hiding it.
“Our administration is doing the right thing and giving the money back to the people who were wrongly ripped off,” he said, adding that the $500 checks would be mailed starting October to people in 30 states that used Healthcare.gov, the federal marketplace where people sign up for Obamacare health insurance.
The money for the rebates would come from what the White House says is a $500 million fund of excess user fees, which are paid by insurance companies to the government to help run healthcare.gov.
It’s unclear what legal authority the administration has to direct rebates to a certain group of states, but not others. The eligible states include many swing states, as well as red states.
The Affordable Care Act already has a mechanism for health insurance companies to send rebates to consumers who are overcharged, and it’s not known how Trump’s plan will interact with the existing function.
Trump claimed the extra $500 could cover the entirety of people’s increased insurance premiums, which he blamed on Democrats. But his announcement highlighted the decision by congressional Republicans to let enhanced ACA subsidies expire, raising costs for millions of people with incomes above the poverty line.
Average premiums jumped from $113 to $178 per month in 2026 for subsidized and non-subsidized plans, equaling nearly $800 more over the entire year.
This promise follows his Wednesday pledge to give $5,000 to every U.S. adult if Republicans win the midterms.
These are the most recent in a pattern of Trump floating offers to distribute rebates to Americans, including a $2,000 tariff dividend check and a $5,000 Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) dividend, neither of which have materialized.
