President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his administration will send $500 rebate checks to approximately 1 million Affordable Care Act enrollees across 30 states, claiming they were overcharged for exchange fees during the Biden administration.
The President delivered the promise in a recorded address released on the White House X account. He accused the Biden administration of "gross mismanagement of ACA funds," saying it collected user fees from insurance companies that consumers paid through higher premiums.
A White House fact sheet alleged the Biden administration accumulated a "significant surplus of funds" that were not used to benefit American consumers. The fact sheet said rebates would begin distribution next month, with Trump adding they would go out "in just a few weeks."
The rebates target enrollees who do not receive premium assistance. The administration has not clarified whether the $500 represents the exact amount each enrollee overpaid.
This announcement follows Trump's pledge Wednesday to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans maintain control of both chambers in the upcoming midterm elections. Healthcare affordability has emerged as a central issue for voters as November approaches.
Democratic critics swiftly dismissed the rebate plan as a gimmick without substantive strategy for addressing rising healthcare costs. Brad Woodhouse, executive director of the advocacy group Protect Our Care, called the plan "an absolute joke."
"Since Republicans took away tax credits from working families, millions of people have seen their monthly premiums rise by hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars," Woodhouse said. "At a time when people are scraping by to keep up with the high cost of groceries, rent, and health care, this $500 gimmick won't even begin to dig them out of the hole that Trump and Republicans created."
The announcement arrives as ACA insurance prices have risen sharply during Trump's second term. His administration opposed extending COVID-era subsidies that had offset health insurance costs for most enrollees under Biden.
After the Republican-led Congress allowed those subsidies to expire this year, premiums doubled or tripled for millions of enrollees, prompting millions to downgrade their plans or exit the program entirely.
Questions linger over the funding source for the rebates and whether disbursement requires congressional approval. Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not respond to requests for comment, and a White House official directed back to the fact sheet.
