Trump administration begins sending $500 Obamacare rebate checks

The Trump administration on Wednesday began sending $500 refunds to Obamacare enrollees who the White House said were overcharged for their health care by the Biden administration.

The Treasury Department is delivering these rebate checks to more than 950,000 Americans in 30 states, according to an administration official. Some families with more than one “affected person” will receive multiple $500 checks or direct deposits, the official said.

Recipients will also receive a letter dated Sept. 30 from President Donald Trump, which will be mailed starting Thursday, the official said.

“For years, the Biden administration has overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov,” Trump wrote in the letter seen by CNBC.

The White House announced earlier this month that it would begin issuing refunds in October.

Jonathan Oberlander, a professor of health policy and political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told CNBC earlier this month that the policy was likely a form of “damage control” allowing the White House to divert attention from higher health care costs.

“This announcement is less about health policy and more about the 2026 congressional elections,” he wrote. “This is part of a broader effort by President Trump to buy continued Republican control of the House and Senate via promises of direct government payments to voters.”

Health policy experts said a $500 rebate does little to offset ACA premiums that in many cases increased by several thousand dollars a year for enrollees who previously received enhanced subsidies.

The 30 states that will receive Obamacare reimbursements are: 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.

These states use the federal ACA exchange, while the others use their own state-run marketplace. The latter tend to be governed by Democrats, according to health policy experts.

The largest number of refunds will be issued in Texas and Florida, where 139,000 and 127,900 people will receive a refund, respectively, according to federal data shared with CNBC.

The main beneficiaries of the refunds will be people with income above 400% of the federal poverty level, the Trump administration official said. That’s about $63,000 for an individual and $129,000 for a family of four.

These people lost all federal premium assistance when the enhanced subsidies disappeared this year.

However, “certain people” between 100 and 400% of the poverty line will also benefit from a reimbursement, the official said.

The $500 refunds are being paid from an “excess” of “user fees” collected by the Biden administration, according to the Trump administration official. The White House said these excessive fees were passed on to consumers during the Biden era via higher health insurance premiums.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services collects user fees from health insurers that participate in the ACA marketplace. Under Obamacare, health care exchanges can collect user fees from insurance companies to help fund ACA marketplace operations.

The fees went up and down during the Biden administration in different years — and were sometimes lower during the Biden era than during the first Trump administration, Oberlander said.