Donald Trump says more than 20 million Medicare beneficiaries will receive unexpected payments of nearly $100 within days.
The president announced the one-time payments Friday, saying his administration would draw on a rarely used federal fund to return money directly to seniors facing rising healthcare expenses.
However, the payment will not be available to every Medicare recipient.
The initiative is designed to help eligible Medicare Part B enrollees with their monthly premiums. The White House said most qualifying beneficiaries should receive a $90 payment in their bank accounts early this month.
People whose Medicare premiums are already covered through Medicaid will be excluded. Higher-income beneficiaries who pay an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, or IRMAA, will also be ineligible.
For other eligible Medicare enrollees, the administration says there is no need to submit an application.
Beneficiaries who typically receive federal payments through direct deposit are expected to receive the money electronically.
Those who do not use direct deposit will receive a paper check mailed to the address on file with Medicare, according to the White House.
Donald Trump says more than 20 million Medicare beneficiaries will receive surprise payments of nearly $100 within days, with the money sent directly to their bank accounts
The president announced the payments Friday night
The administration estimates that more than 20 million people will receive the benefit.
The announcement comes during a notable wave of checks and proposed payments from the Trump administration in the weeks leading up to November’s closely watched midterm elections.
Earlier this week, the administration also began sending $500 checks to nearly one million Americans who purchased health insurance through Obamacare.
Trump says those recipients were overcharged during the Biden administration through fees collected to run HealthCare.gov, leaving the federal government with hundreds of millions of dollars in surplus funds.
“For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov,” Trump wrote in a letter included with the payments.
“That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now, I am returning it to you!”
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The checks are being sent to eligible residents in 30 states that use the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace. The payments primarily benefit people who paid their entire insurance premiums without receiving federal financial assistance.
According to the administration, the funds come from excess user fees collected to operate the federal health insurance exchange.
The White House has presented both payment programs as part of Trump’s effort to return surplus government healthcare funds to the Americans who originally paid them.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, speaks with Vice President JD Vance during a Tuesday news conference on alleged Obamacare fraud
Vance announced a federal crackdown on Affordable Care Act fraud, removing over 750,000 allegedly ineligible enrollments and banning hundreds of suspect brokers to save taxpayers an estimated $2.2 billion
And Trump is dangling an even more extraordinary potential payday before voters if Republicans prevail in November.
The president has pledged to send every adult American citizen a whopping $5,000 ‘Trump dividend’ – but only if Republicans retain control of both the House and Senate in the midterm elections.
‘Because we’ve done so well, and because our country is making so much money, only I can make this promise to you,’ Trump said when unveiling the proposal at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas.
‘If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.’
Trump later boiled the pitch down even further.
‘If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000,’ he said.
Unlike the $90 Medicare payments and the $500 Obamacare refunds, however, Americans should not start planning how to spend that money.
The $5,000 dividend remains a political pledge rather than an approved federal program, and distributing thousands of dollars to every adult citizen would require an enormous amount of federal money and congressional action.
Trump has not laid out detailed legislation explaining exactly how the payments would be financed or administered.
The president has nevertheless continued touting the proposed checks on the campaign trail as he fights to preserve Republican control of Congress.
