Trump sending $500 ACA refund checks to nearly 1 million Americans

The Trump administration started sending $500 refund checks on Wednesday to Obamacare enrollees the White House says were overcharged under the Biden administration, CNBC reported. The Treasury Department is distributing the payments to more than 950,000 Americans in 30 states, an administration official said, according to CNBC and Business Insider.

The checks began arriving about a month before the midterm elections, which CNBC reported show Republicans behind Democrats in both national and battleground state polling. The payments also follow a spike in ACA premiums for millions of households after enhanced subsidies that had lowered their costs expired at the end of 2025, according to CNBC.

Recipients will also get a letter dated Sept. 30 from President Trump, set to be mailed starting Thursday, CNBC and Business Insider reported. "For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov," Trump wrote, adding that the money belonged to Americans and he was giving it back to them. Trump wrote, according to Business Insider. In the letter, which CNBC viewed, Trump also described the refunds as a way to "restore Affordability, protect your hard-earned money, and lower the Cost of Healthcare," adding, "You have paid into this flawed System, and now you are finally getting something back."

Some families with more than one "affected person" will receive multiple $500 checks or direct deposits, the administration official told CNBC, CBS News and Business Insider. The 30 states receiving refunds — including Texas, Florida, Ohio and Arizona among others — use the federal ACA exchange rather than state-run marketplaces, CNBC and Business Insider reported. Texas will see the largest number of refunds at 139,000, followed by Florida with 127,900, according to federal data shared with CNBC.

An administration official told CNBC that most recipients earn more than 400% of the federal poverty line — roughly $63,000 for one person or $129,000 for a household of four — and lost all federal premium help once the enhanced subsidies ended this year. The official added that "some people" earning between 100% and 400% of the poverty line would also get a refund. As of February 2026, about 19.2 million Americans were enrolled in an ACA marketplace plan, according to figures published by the Department of Health and Human Services in June, cited by CNBC.

The $500 payments are being funded from a "surplus" of "user fees" collected by the Biden administration, the administration official said, per CNBC. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services collects such fees from insurers participating in the ACA marketplace, and the White House says the excess charges had been passed on to consumers through higher premiums during the Biden era. CNBC noted that user fee levels rose and fell during the Biden administration and were at times lower than during the first Trump administration, according to Jonathan Oberlander, a professor of health policy and political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Oberlander told CNBC the move is likely "damage control" meant to distract from higher health costs, writing, "This announcement is less about health policy and much more about the 2026 Congressional elections." He said the move is part of a broader effort by Trump to secure continued Republican control of Congress by promising voters direct government payments, per CNBC. Business Insider noted the checks fit a broader pattern of Trump promising cash payments in his second term, including his pledge this month to send every American adult a $5,000 "Trump dividend" if Republicans keep control of Congress in November.