Donald Trump has said the US government will send a one-time $90 payment to more than 20 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, the health insurance program for elderly people, to help offset the cost of their monthly medical insurance premiums.
The president said on social media late on Friday that the payments would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which he said was given $2bn by Congress to improve the Medicare fee-for-service program.
The announcement is the latest in a series of financial promises the Republican leader has made to voters heading into the November midterm elections where control of Congress is at stake – and where his party is expected to lose congressional seats.
Trump’s Republican party currently has a narrow majority in both the US Senate and the House of Representatives. But his approval rating has been low over his handling of the high cost of living for Americans during the US-Israeli war on Iran that has spiked oil and gas prices.
The White House released some details of Trump’s plan on its website, saying most eligible seniors will receive the payment in the form of a direct deposit of $90 in early October.
Those without direct deposit will receive a check, also sent in early October, to the mailing address they have registered with Medicare, the White House said.
In September, Trump proposed sending $5,000 checks to all adult citizens if the Republicans keep control of the House and Senate in the midterms, though analysts, economists and even some Republicans in Congress reacted with skepticism to the plan.
The Trump administration is also separately sending $500 payments to nearly 1 million Americans in a move that strategists say could influence some election races.
The Trump administration says those payments were a refund for what it describes as excessive fees charged to people who bought health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, which was enacted in 2010 during the presidency of Barack Obama, a Democrat.