Trump To Send Out $500 Obamacare Rebate Checks Before Midterms: REPORT

The Trump administration is preparing to mail $500 checks to roughly a million Americans just weeks ahead of the fall elections.

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The rebates would reach enrollees in 30 states before the Nov. 3 midterms, Axios reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the plan. Officials say the recipients paid too much for coverage under the Affordable Care Act, and the direct deposits will let Trump point to concrete savings from his tax law and drug-pricing efforts. He intends to unveil the payments Wednesday night during a speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, the outlet noted.

The money comes from a $500 million pool that the White House says built up from surplus fees collected from Obamacare customers during the Biden years, Axios reported. (RELATED: Obamacare Premiums Set To Surge Next Year)

A U.S. official told the outlet the funds were “over-collected and just sitting there” in federal accounts. Only enrollees who do not receive premium help qualify, officials said, and states with large pools of eligible recipients include Florida, Texas, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.

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The Biden administration wanted to spend the same fund on no-cost contraception, but Republicans argued the agency had no authority to redirect it, and the proposal died, Axios states. Several GOP staffers who fought that plan later joined the Trump administration.

The payments land as premiums climb sharply. Average yearly costs are set to jump to $1,904 in 2026 from $888 the year before, when Congress let pandemic-era subsidies lapse, according to KFF figures cited by Reuters. More than 20 million people face higher bills, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

“That money was over-collected and just sitting there,” the U.S. official told Axios.

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