WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has begun sending $500 refund checks to nearly one million Americans who bought health insurance through the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace without subsidies, according to administration officials and multiple news outlets.
The Treasury Department began mailing the one-time payments on Sept. 30 to more than 950,000 enrollees in the 30 states that rely on the federal HealthCare.gov exchange, each accompanied by a letter signed by President Donald Trump.
“For years, the Biden administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov,” Trump wrote in the letter, viewed by USA Today. “That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now, I am returning it to you!”
The administration says the refunds come from unspent user fees paid by insurers to run the federal exchange — fees the White House says collected more than was needed to operate, with the cost passed on to consumers through higher premiums. Most recipients are middle-class Americans who earned too much for premium subsidies this year — more than $62,600 as an individual or $128,600 for a family of four, according to the White House.
Residents of the 20 states that operate their own exchanges will not receive checks. Texas has the most recipients at an estimated 139,000, followed by Florida with 127,900 and Ohio with 65,700, according to figures cited by Fox News.
The checks are arriving about five weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, and Democrats and analysts say the payments could influence competitive races. A Reuters analysis found that eight of the nine U.S. Senate races nonpartisan analysts regard as most competitive, and 10 of the 12 most competitive governors’ races, will take place in states where residents are receiving checks — and that 71 percent of the payments, about $339 million, will go to people in 13 such battleground states.
“Voters aren’t looking for Donald Trump to cut them a check,” said Chris Pappas, the Democratic Senate nominee in New Hampshire. “They just want him to understand that affordability isn’t a hoax and that their lives are getting more expensive.”
Trump announced the rebates on Sept. 10, a day after he promised to send $5,000 dividend payments to all American adults if Republicans retain control of Congress in November — a promise whose funding remains an open question, according to CNN.
