Trump administration begins sending $500 ACA rebate checks. Here’s what you need to know

The Trump administration began sending $500 checks under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to enrollees who were allegedly overcharged for coverage.

The Treasury Department is issuing the checks to 950,000 Americans in 30 states because of overcharging of marketplace “user fees,” according to the administration.

In a video posted on X last month announcing the initiative, President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that the Biden administration had a pool of unused excess money.

Here’s what you need to know about who’s eligible, where checks are being sent and when they may arrive.

Who is eligible?

An administration official told ABC News on Thursday that the primary beneficiaries of the checks will be people with incomes “above” 400% of the federal poverty level. The federal poverty level is $15,960 per year for an individual in the contiguous 48 states and Washington, DC.

However, some beneficiaries are those earning between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level who did not receive grants, the official said.

Residents of the following states will receive checks: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The administration official told ABC News that residents of those 30 states “do not operate their own ACA insurance plan exchanges and instead rely on federal exchanges administered by (the Centers for Medicare). & Medicaid Services).”

The official said residents of the remaining 20 states will not receive checks “because their states manage their exchanges, and therefore the federal government has not overseen the collection of user fees on them.”

Texas and Florida have the highest number of people who will receive refund checks, followed by Wisconsin, Arizona and Oregon, respectively, according to data provided by the administration.

Gerard Anderson, a professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News he was skeptical that the checks would go to Americans who need them most.

The payment “does not target people most likely to have been harmed by the administration’s policy changes, including the end of tax credits,” Anderson said.

The subsidies, or premium tax credits, have helped reduce or eliminate the direct cost of monthly premiums for those purchasing insurance through the health insurance marketplace. They expired at the end of last year and have not yet been renewed.

Anderson added that the amount of the check is also not tied to a person’s health status, which has a big impact on the cost of their premiums.

When will the checks be delivered?

Initially, the administration said the checks would be sent to eligible Americans starting in October 2026, but the administration official said the checks would be sent starting Wednesday.

It’s unclear how long it will take for eligible Americans to receive the checks.

The checks will also be accompanied by a letter, according to the administration official.

“For years, the Biden administration has overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov,” the letter, seen by ABC News, reads in part. “This money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the government, and now I’m giving it back to you.”

The checks are separate from a proposal Trump made at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas to offer a $5,000 “dividend” to all adult Americans if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections.