WASHINGTON — Three weeks after he unveiled the idea on a convention stage, President Donald Trump has started delivering on it. Letters went out Wednesday to roughly 950,000 Obamacare enrollees, each one carrying news of a $500 refund.
Taken together, the payments come to about half a billion dollars. Some recipients could see their checks as early as this week.
The refunds rest on an allegation.
According to the administration, the Biden administration overcharged user fees to health insurance companies, and those companies then passed the cost along by charging consumers higher rates.
Trump signed the letter himself, and USA Today first reported its contents. He begins with a pledge.
“I am proud to return your money to you, and I will never stop fighting to put the American People FIRST, restore Affordability, protect your hard-earned money, and lower the Cost of Healthcare,” Trump says in the letter.
Next, he names who he holds responsible.
“For years, the Biden administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov. That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now I’m returning it to you!”
The letter ends on a third message to enrollees.
Trump added: “You have paid into this flawed System, and now you are finally getting something back.”
A White House official described the typical recipient to USA Today. Most earn about 400% of the poverty line, which works out to $64,000, or $132,000 for a family of four.
The official said these enrollees covered most or all of their own insurance premiums without federal subsidies.
Residents of 30 states will receive checks.
Twenty-four of them are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The other six are Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. All six have hotly contested congressional races on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Enrollees in states that operate their own independent exchanges will not get checks. California, New York and Pennsylvania are among them.
Trump revealed the program on Sept. 10 at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas. One day earlier, he had promised every adult citizen $5,000 if the GOP keeps control of Congress.
Fiscal conservatives reacted to that $5,000 pledge with concern, saying they fear it could accelerate inflation and debt.
Vice President JD Vance addressed the Obamacare program separately last week. He announced that the federal government is saving about $2.2 billion by removing 750,000 users suspected of fraudulent enrollment.
The exchanges covered about 23 million Americans this year. The 950,000 people in line for checks make up a small slice of that total.
Handwritten-style presidential notes on government payments are not new. Trump signed letters that accompanied stimulus checks during the COVID-19 pandemic, and so did President Joe Biden.
