President Donald Trump announced that about 1 million Americans will receive $500 from the government as a rebate for excessive Affordable Care Act fees.
“Our administration is doing the right thing and giving the money back to the people who were wrongly ripped off,” Trump said in a video posted to X from the White House’s account.
Trump said the rebate checks would go out “in just a few weeks.”
The administration said it would send the $500 checks to adults in 30 states, including multiple political battlegrounds with key races to be decided in November: Alaska, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. The 30 states all rely on the federal marketplace Healthcare.gov, instead of running their own marketplaces.
Trending
The effort comes ahead of a second year of double-digit premium spikes on the marketplaces where Americans without employer-sponsored coverage can buy federally subsidized health plans.
Democrats, who passed the 2010 health care law creating the marketplaces, have faced criticism for costly marketplace plans.
But the script flipped last year after congressional Republicans refused to extend pandemic-era subsidies, prompting about 3 million people to leave the marketplaces as their costs rose again. Many middle-income people were no longer eligible for subsidies, leaving them struggling to afford their full monthly premiums.
Marketplace insurers in all 50 states are proposing to hike premiums a median of 15% next year, according to an analysis by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy organization.
Administration officials had floated the idea of rebates in fall 2025, according to sources inside the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Axios first reported the plan on Wednesday.
It’s the second refund initiative Trump has announced within 24 hours. Speaking at the GOP midterm convention on Wednesday, Trump promised he would send a $5,000 dividend to every American adult if Republicans retain majorities in the House and Senate in the midterm elections. The proposal would cost roughly $1.35 trillion and would require congressional approval.
Trump also lauded a one-time dividend of $1,776 sent to military service members last December. The president has proposed other ideas to send money from the federal government to American citizens from savings the administration says came from efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency and tariff refunds. Neither materialized.
He also issued stimulus checks during his first administration to combat a sluggish economy beset by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his rebate announcement, Trump again pitched his health care plan — a scant, one-page proposal released earlier this year that suggests a few ways to cut costs in the nation’s health care system but falls far short of any kind of comprehensive reform.
Authors
