The Treasury Department is releasing these refund checks to more than 950,000 Americans in 30 states, according to an administration official. Some families with more than one “affected person” will receive multiple $500 checks or direct deposits, the official said. <\/p>\n
Recipients will also receive a letter dated Sept. 30 from President Donald Trump, which is being mailed starting Thursday, the official said. <\/p>\n
“For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov,” Trump writes in the letter, which CNBC viewed. <\/p>\n
The White House announced<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month that it would begin issuing refunds in October. <\/p>\n Read more CNBC personal finance coverage<\/p>\n Trump’s letter describes the move as a way to “restore Affordability, protect your hard-earned money, and lower the Cost of Healthcare.” <\/p>\n “You have paid into this flawed System, and now you are finally getting something back,” Trump wrote. <\/p>\n As of February 2026, about 19.2 million Americans are enrolled in a health insurance plan through the ACA marketplace, according to figures published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in June.<\/p>\n The refunds come just over a month before the midterm elections, in which Republicans are trailing Democrats in national and battleground polls<\/a>. <\/p>\n Affordability has become a core theme of the election cycle<\/a> amid stubbornly high inflation and rising interest rates<\/a>. The Iran war has raised gasoline and energy prices<\/a> for households while surging yields<\/a> for Treasury bonds have pushed up rates for consumers seeking mortgages<\/a> and car loans<\/a>. <\/p>\n The refunds for enrollees in Obamacare \u2014 an informal name for the Affordable Care Act \u2014 come as millions of households saw their health insurance premiums spike<\/a> after ACA enhanced premium subsidies lapsed at the end of 2025<\/a>. <\/p>\n Those enhanced subsidies, which lowered health insurance premiums for ACA enrollees, disappeared after the Republican majority in Congress defeated Democrats’ efforts to extend them. <\/p>\n Jonathan Oberlander, a professor of health policy and political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told CNBC earlier this month that the policy is likely a form of “damage control” for the White House to distract from higher healthcare costs.<\/p>\n “This announcement is less about health policy and much more about the 2026 Congressional elections,” he wrote. “It’s part of a broader effort by President Trump to buy continued Republican control of the House and Senate via promises of direct government payments to voters.”<\/p>\n Health policy experts said a $500 refund does little to offset ACA premiums that, in many cases, rose by several thousand dollars per year<\/a> for enrollees who had previously received enhanced subsidies.<\/p>\n![\"White](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/108361216-17890514551789051452-48291550525-1080pnbcnews.jpg\")
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