Trump to send $500 rebate checks for Obamacare overcharges: Report

President Donald Trump reportedly plans to send $500 rebate payments to as many as 1 million Obamacare enrollees who were overcharged for their coverage, with the payments expected to arrive before the 2026 midterm elections.The payments, which will go to recipients in 30 states, would come from roughly $500 million in excess fees collected under the Affordable Care Act, Axios reported. The refunds are available to Obamacare enrollees who do not receive premium assistance.“The money was over-collected and just sitting there” in government accounts, a U.S. official told the outlet. States with relatively large numbers of people eligible for the refunds include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Delaware, New Hampshire, Texas, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri.The payments are part of Trump’s broader effort to reshape the healthcare system by directing government assistance to consumers rather than insurance companies. His administration has promoted the approach through its “Great Healthcare Plan,” which calls for lower insurance premiums, reduced drug costs, and more control for Americans over their healthcare spending.The move marks a shift in Trump’s approach to the Affordable Care Act. During his first term, Trump backed efforts to repeal Obamacare, but the effort failed in the Senate in 2017 after former Republican Sen. John McCain and Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) opposed the legislation.Trump has continued to criticize Obamacare while promoting his alternative healthcare proposals. At the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention this week, he called for an end to government payments to insurance companies and said the money should instead go directly to consumers.“We’re going to pass the Great Healthcare Plan,” Trump said. “We call it the Great Healthcare Plan to stop all government payments of the big insurance companies … and give the money directly to the people for you to go out and buy your own healthcare.”LIVE UPDATES: REPUBLICANS GATHER IN DALLAS FOR FIRST-EVER GOP MIDTERM CONVENTIONThe timing of the rebates puts the payments in the months immediately preceding the Nov. 3 midterm elections, as Trump and Republicans seek to keep voters focused on the administration’s economic and healthcare policies and away from rising costs caused by the war in Iran.The excess funds have been the subject of a policy dispute since the Biden administration was in office. In 2023, Biden officials proposed using money from the fund to provide no-cost contraception to people whose Obamacare plans did not cover it. Republicans in Congress objected, arguing the fees were intended to support the Obamacare exchanges and that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not have authority to redirect the money. The Biden administration ultimately withdrew the proposal.