President Donald Trump announced that some Americans will be receiving $500 Obamacare refunds — just one day after he vowed to send every adult citizen $5,000 if the Republicans maintain control of Congress in the midterms. In a video released Thursday by the White House, Trump said that nearly one million Americans in 30 states will receive the checks “in just a few weeks,” likely landing them in mailboxes just ahead of the November elections. The funds will be drawn from what the president described as a $500 million government cache of excess fees paid by Affordable Care Act enrollees.
Axios was first to report on the proposed refund plan on Wednesday. Among the states with large shares of recipients who could receive $500 checks are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Delaware, New Hampshire, Texas, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri, according to the outlet. The 80-year-old president has long opposed and attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law by Barack Obama in 2010.
The landmark bill overhauled the U.S. health system by expanding coverage, adding consumer protections and creating marketplaces for individuals to shop for plans, among other changes. For years, Trump declined to outline a concrete replacement for the ACA, notably remarking in 2024 that he had “concepts of a plan.” In the Thursday video, Trump touted his “Great Health Care Plan,” a health care framework first unveiled in January. It calls on Congress to lower insurance premiums by sending money directly to the American people.
A major change to Obamacare came late last year. The ACA’s enhanced premium subsidies expired on December 31, 2025, after Congress failed to pass an extension, leaving millions of Americans facing significantly higher health insurance premiums. Democrats sought to extend the subsidies, while the Trump administration and Republicans pushed for direct payments to Americans to use toward healthcare.
After the subsidies expired, about one in 10 Americans enrolled in ACA plans opted out of health insurance altogether, according to a March KFF survey. Now, for the first time in five years, less than half of Americans can consistently afford health care, a June Gallup poll found. With concerns about the cost of living weighing on voters, Trump’s latest move is seen as a push to strengthen the GOP’s chances in the midterm elections.
One day before he unveiled the $500 Obamacare refunds, he announced at the Republican midterm convention that every American adult citizen would be sent $5,000 if Republicans retain their majorities in the House and Senate in the midterms. Now all we have to do, now all we have to do is win.” Trump has touted similar large-scale payments in the past that never materialized. For instance, last year he signaled support for DOGE and tariff dividends, which never came to fruition.
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