Trump to send $500 rebate checks to nearly one million Obamacare enrollees

Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters/FILE

A day after promising to send $5,000 dividend payments to all Americans, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would distribute $500 rebate checks to nearly one million Affordable Care Act enrollees in 30 states.

In a video posted on the White House X account, Trump said that these Obamacare policyholders were “wrongly overcharged” during the Biden administration – a claim that some experts dispute.

“Our administration is doing the right thing and giving the money back to the people who were wrongly ripped off,” he said.

Eligible enrollees are those living in the 30 states that used the federal exchange, healthcare.gov , and did not qualify for premium subsidies. (The vast majority of the ACA’s enrollees are subsidized.) The checks will start being sent in October.

The announcement comes at a time when many Obamacare enrollees are struggling to maintain their coverage – or have dropped their policies – after congressional Republicans allowed the enhanced ACA premium subsidies to expire at the end of last year. That sent premium payments skyrocketing for many enrollees, particularly middle-income folks, for 2026.

Premiums are set to jump again for 2027. Policyholders will learn how much more they’ll have to pay when open enrollment starts on November 1, just before the midterm elections. Healthcare affordability – including the lapsing of the enhanced subsidies and the GOP’s slashing of Medicaid funding in Trump’s domestic policy package – is expected to be among voters’ top concerns.

The rebates will be funded from fees that participating Obamacare insurers pay to support the federal ACA exchanges’ operations, according to a White House factsheet. The fees, which insurers pass along to enrollees in the form of higher premiums, also pay for marketing, outreach and enrollment assistance, which Trump has slashed in office.

About $1.2 billion in unspent fees had accumulated when former President Joe Biden took office in early 2021, according to an analysis by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group. The money had been adding up largely because the first Trump administration greatly reduced spending on enrollment assistance , marketing, the healthcare.gov website and the federal ACA call center.

The Biden administration subsequently announced it would pour about $500 billion into these ACA operations. Enrollment roughly doubled during his term to nearly 22 million people, thanks in large part to the enhanced subsidies , which Biden signed into in early 2021.

The current Trump administration is reducing the fees, which it argues will help lower premiums.

In his video, where Trump also urged Congress to pass his healthcare plan , the president said that the $500 rebate will cover the spike in premiums “in many cases.”

At least one expert disagreed.

“It could easily be $500 a month more that they’re having to spend,” Cynthia Cox, director of KFF’s Program on the ACA, told CNN.

伊芙琳·霍克斯坦/路透社/档案照片

在承诺向所有美国人发放 5000 美元股息的第二天，唐纳德·特朗普总统周四宣布，他将向 30 个州的近 100 万名《平价医疗法案》参保人发放 500 美元的退款支票。

在白宫 X 账号发布的一段视频中，特朗普表示，这些奥巴马医改的投保人在拜登执政期间被“错误地多收了钱”——一些专家对这一说法提出异议。

他说：“我们的政府正在做正确的事情，将钱还给那些被错误欺骗的人。”

符合条件的参保人是指居住在30个州，并通过联邦医保交易平台healthcare.gov购买保险，但未获得保费补贴的人士。（《平价医疗法案》的绝大多数参保人都享受了保费补贴。）支票将于10月开始寄出。

这项声明发布之际，正值许多奥巴马医改参保人难以维持医保，甚至已经放弃保单之时。此前，国会共和党人允许奥巴马医改的额外保费补贴于去年底到期，导致许多参保人，尤其是中等收入人群，2026年的保费大幅上涨。

2027年的保费预计将再次上涨。投保人将在11月1日开放注册时得知他们需要多支付多少保费，而开放注册恰好在中期选举前夕。医疗保健的可负担性——包括增强补贴的到期以及共和党在特朗普国内政策方案中大幅削减医疗补助资金——预计将成为选民最关心的问题之一。

根据白宫的情况说明书，这些退款将由参与奥巴马医改的保险公司缴纳的费用提供资金，这些费用用于支持联邦《平价医疗法案》（ACA）交易平台的运营。这些费用最终会以更高保费的形式转嫁给参保人，同时这些费用还用于市场推广、宣传和参保协助，而特朗普上任后大幅削减了这些方面的投入。

据无党派医疗政策研究机构凯撒家庭基金会（KFF）的分析，截至前总统乔·拜登于2021年初就职时，已累计约12亿美元的未使用费用。这笔资金之所以累积如此之多，主要是因为特朗普第一任期政府大幅削减了在参保协助、市场推广、healthcare.gov网站以及联邦《平价医疗法案》（ACA）呼叫中心方面的支出。

拜登政府随后宣布将向《平价医疗法案》（ACA）的运营投入约5000亿美元。在他任期内，参保人数几乎翻了一番，达到近2200万人，这主要归功于拜登在2021年初签署的增加补贴法案。

现任特朗普政府正在降低这些费用，并声称这将有助于降低保费。

在视频中，特朗普还敦促国会通过他的医疗保健计划。总统表示，500 美元的退款“在很多情况下”将弥补保费的上涨。

至少有一位专家持不同意见。

“他们每月可能要多花 500 美元，”凯撒家庭基金会 (KFF) 平价医疗法案 (ACA) 项目主任辛西娅·考克斯 (Cynthia Cox) 告诉 CNN。