Trump says US will send one-time $90 payment to 20 million seniors enrolled in Medicare | Donald Trump

Donald Trump said the US government would send a one-time $90 payment to more than 20 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, the health insurance program for seniors, to help offset the cost of their monthly health insurance premiums.

The president said on social media Friday evening that the payments would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which he said received $2 billion from Congress to improve Medicare’s fee-for-service program.

The announcement is the latest in a series of financial promises the Republican leader has made to voters ahead of the November midterm elections where control of Congress is at stake and his party is expected to lose congressional seats.

Trump’s Republican Party currently has a slim majority in the US Senate and House of Representatives. But his approval rating is low because of his handling of the high cost of living for Americans during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that drove up oil and gas prices.

The White House posted some details of Trump’s plan on its website, saying most eligible seniors will receive the payment in the form of a $90 direct deposit in early October.

Those who don’t have direct deposit will receive a check, also sent in early October, to the mailing address they have on file with Medicare, the White House said.

In September, Trump proposed sending $5,000 checks to all adult citizens if Republicans retained control of the House and Senate in the midterms, although analysts, economists and even some congressional Republicans reacted with skepticism to the plan.

The Trump administration is also separately sending $500 to nearly a million Americans, a move that strategists say could influence some election races.

The Trump administration says the payments were reimbursement for what it describes as excessive fees charged to people who purchased health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010 under President Barack Obama, a Democrat.