Nearly 1 million Americans in 30 states are set to receive $500 refund checks and letters this week signed by President Donald Trump. The letters accuse the Biden administration of overcharging people under the Affordable Care Act.
The checks, which began going out Wednesday, Sept. 30, are headed to more than 950,000 people. The Trump administration says they were overcharged through user fees collected to operate the federal ACA exchange for buying health insurance.
The White House says the Biden administration collected the fees from health insurance companies, which passed the costs to consumers through higher premiums. The administration alleges the premiums exceeded the amount needed to run the exchange and that the Biden administration held onto the surplus.
The rebates are being issued five weeks before the November midterm elections. They also come after enhanced ACA subsidies expired at the end of 2025, making insurance more expensive for millions of consumers.
Which States Are Sending Checks?
Some people in 30 states are set to receive checks because those states do not fully operate their own ACA insurance exchanges and rely at least in part on the federal exchanges administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, according to the White House.
The states 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.
“For years, the Biden administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov,” Trump says in the letter. “That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now I’m returning it to you!”
About 139,000 people in Texas are set to receive $500 checks, the most of any state, according to the White House. Florida follows with 127,900 people, then Ohio with 65,700, North Carolina with 58,200, Wisconsin with 56,200 and Michigan with 55,100.
People in the other 20 states won’t receive checks because their states run their own exchanges and the federal government did not collect user fees from enrollees there.
Who May Receive the $500 Refund?
Most people in line for the checks earn about 400% of the federal poverty level, or $64,000 for a single person and $132,000 for a family of four, according to the White House. The federal poverty level is currently about $33,000 for a family of four.
Some recipients earn between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, the White House said. Families with more than one person who paid user fees to the federal government could receive multiple $500 checks.
The $500 refunds are separate from the $5,000 dividend Trump announced Sept. 10 and has vowed to distribute to all Americans if Republicans retain control of Congress in the midterms. Democrats have criticized the proposed dividend, and some Trump allies have expressed skepticism about it.
In the letter being sent this week, Trump says: “You have paid into this flawed System, and now you are finally getting something back.”
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