Trump’s Obamacare $500 Refund Checks Come With a Letter: Read in Full - Newsweek

President Donald Trump is sending nearly 1 million Americans $500 Affordable Care Act refund checks—and the payments are arriving with a letter from the president highlighting his record on healthcare, and criticizing former President Joe Biden's administration.

The Trump administration began sending the one-time payments on September 30 to more than 950,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees across 30 states, according to administration officials. The payments are being funded through accumulated fees associated with the federal ACA marketplace, HealthCare.gov.

The checks come just weeks before the November midterm elections and are accompanied by a letter in which Trump credits his administration with returning the money and outlines several of his healthcare initiatives.

Trump's letter tells recipients that money collected to operate HealthCare.gov had been improperly charged during the Biden administration and says his administration is now returning that money. It says the administration is using surplus funds to provide a one-time $500 refund to people who purchased ACA coverage through HealthCare.gov but did not receive taxpayer-funded premium subsidies.

However, critics have accused the Trump administration of using the check to try to "buy" votes in the upcoming elections.

Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment.

“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 am returning it to you!

“With this Historic Action, my Administration is taking the surplus funds that accumulated from the Obamacare ‘Premium Tax’ and issuing a one-time $500 REFUND to Americans who use the HealthCare.gov platform to purchase their health insurance, but who do not receive Taxpayer Subsidies to help pay for their Coverage.

“You have paid into this flawed System, and now you are finally getting something back.

“Healthcare Dollars should benefit Patients, not Insurance Companies or Government Bureaucrats. Since returning to office I have fought hard to lower healthcare costs, increase accountability and put patients first. Through TrumpRx, we are delivering massive discounts on Household Prescription Drugs and my Most-Favored-Nation Pricing Agreements have already saved Americans more than 1 Billion Dollars on much-needed Medications.

“We also secured an unprecedented 50 Billion Dollar investment to transform Rural Healthcare, expanded access to Health Saving Accounts for millions of people on Obamacare and restored Price Transparency, all while rooting out the Waste, Fraud, and Abuse across our healthcare system.

“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.

“May God bless you, and may He continue to bless the United States of America!”

"Sincerely, DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"

The payments are going to eligible people who purchased ACA coverage through the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace and did not receive federal premium subsidies.

More than 950,000 people in 30 states are expected to receive the payments.

States that operate their own ACA exchanges, including California, New York and Pennsylvania, are not part of the program.

Most recipients are people who paid the full cost of their ACA coverage because they did not qualify for federal premium assistance. The White House has said many recipients earn around 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

The Trump administration says the money comes from unused ACA user fees that accumulated from insurers participating in the federal marketplace. Those fees are paid by insurers to help fund the operation of the federal exchange. They support expenses including HealthCare.gov, enrollment assistance, marketing and call-center operations.

Trump has characterized the accumulated money as an overcharge that should be returned to consumers.

Health policy experts have disputed that characterization.

Jonathan Gruber, MIT economist who worked on the Affordable Care Act, described the administration's characterization as misleading and simply "an effort to score political points."

"Any organization that provides services, like insurance, has some administrative overhead," he said. "The exchanges under the ACA were very low overhead operations—the user fees were totally reasonable compared to the 20 percent overhead allowed for insurers of firms in the U.S. Why is Trump not issuing rebates for private insurance 'overcharges?'

The fees at issue are assessed on insurers, rather than directly billed to individual ACA consumers. Insurers can account for those costs in setting premiums, meaning the relationship between the fees and an individual's premium is more complicated than Trump's description of a direct overcharge.

The $500 payment is also the same for eligible recipients rather than being calculated according to the amount an individual policyholder may have paid in ACA user fees.

The timing of the payments has also drawn attention. The checks began going out in late September, roughly a month before the November midterm elections. The 30 states receiving the payments include several closely watched states, including Florida, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina and Texas.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon accused the Trump administration of using the checks as a method to "buy" midterm votes.

“If you want to BUY midterm votes, maybe start by not gutting everyone's health care in the first place," he said on Monday.

Brad Woodhouse, executive director of healthcare advocacy organization Protect Our Care, called the $500 payments “an absolute joke” when Trump announced them in September and characterized them as inadequate compared with the higher premiums many Americans face.

Trump first announced the refund plan in September, shortly after promising a separate $5,000 “dividend” payment to American adults if Republicans retain control of Congress.

The $500 payment comes as many ACA policyholders face significantly higher insurance costs. Enhanced ACA premium subsidies expired at the end of 2025, increasing the amount many consumers had to pay for coverage in 2026.

Premiums are expected to increase again for many consumers in 2027. Open enrollment begins November 1.

For the Americans receiving them, the immediate question is how much of the refund will offset the rising cost of maintaining health insurance as the 2027 enrollment period approaches.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Edward T. Cummins