President Donald Trump’s administration says it will begin sending $500 checks on Sept. 30 to nearly 1 million people who were overcharged through the Affordable Care Act’s federal insurance exchange.
Treasury Department checks and letters signed by Trump will go to more than 950,000 people across 30 states, according to an administration official.
In the letter, Trump says the Biden administration overcharged people to fund HealthCare.gov and that the money is now being returned. USA TODAY obtained a copy of the letter.
Trump announced the checks on Sept. 10. They are separate from a $5,000 dividend he has vowed to distribute to all Americans if Republicans retain control of Congress after the November midterm election.
The White House says user fees collected from health insurers were passed on to consumers through higher premiums and exceeded what was needed to operate the exchange. The Trump administration has accused the Biden administration of holding on to the surplus.
The checks will go to people in states that rely on the federal ACA exchange, administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, according to the White House. Those 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.
Residents of the other 20 states won’t receive checks because those states run their own ACA exchanges and the federal government did not collect the user fees there.
Most recipients earn about 400% of the federal poverty line — $64,000 for a single person or $132,000 for a family of four — though the group also includes some people earning between 100% and 400% of the poverty line, the White House said.
Enhanced ACA subsidies expired at the end of 2025, making insurance more expensive for millions of consumers.
Contributing: Bart Jansen and Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY. Reporting by Joey Garrison, USA TODAY. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.
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