21M Medicare beneficiaries to receive $90 rebate checks, White House confirms
Only days after President Donald Trump’s administration began sending out $500 “rebate” checks to 1 million Americans enrolled in Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans, a new payment is being distributed, this time to Medicare Part B enrollees.
In a statement, the White House said the new $90 checks, intended to help “enrollees pay for their Medicare Part B premiums” will begin receiving the surprise cash in the coming days, either in the form of a physical check in the mail or direct deposit.
Not very many Medicare Part B beneficiaries will be getting the money, however—of the 63 million Americans enrolled in the program, which covers non-emergency primary and specialty care, only 21 million will receive what the White House calls “premium rebates.”
The money is not a true rebate, according to the Trump administration’s own fact sheet. The roughly $1.9 billion will come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which was established by Congress in 2008 to be used as flexible spending to enhance the Medicare program.
According to the White House, the fund “has never before been utilized.” But, as records with the Congressional Budget Office show, the fund has been withdrawn from a number of times to pay for government healthcare programs, as a way to offset Congressional spending.
In its own FAQ commenting on the measure, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said the move by the White House is the best way to live up to the ethos of the fund, developed to improve the government’s senior healthcare program, because it puts “dollars back where they belong—in the hands of our Medicare beneficiaries” and would ultimately “make coverage more affordable.”
How much more affordable? Currently, according to the resource MedicareFAQ.com, premiums for Part B are income-adjusted at a standard of $202.90 per month, meaning the $90 will pay for a partial month’s premium for those lucky enough to get it.
While the White House said in its statement that most Americans covered by Part B are eligible, the fact is those in the highest income brackets will be excluded—as will those in the lowest, for whom premiums are much less than the $202 standard.
$500 refunds already in the mail
As promised in September, President Donald Trump’s administration has begun sending “refund” checks to ACA enrollees that it claimed were part of an effort to return premiums that the government collected “far in excess” of what should have been charged.
Nearly 1 million Americans in 30 states were expected to receive $500 payments, which the administration said would begin being mailed out on Oct. 1.
That money was collected in the form of user fees—a de facto tax CMS levies on states to pay for the operations of the federal government insurance marketplace.
The Trump administration says those fees, which were overpaid, are now being returned to the $1 million Americans, though it isn’t entirely clear how they were selected.
The new $90 payments will not overlap, as Medicare Part B coverage is not obtained via ACA marketplaces, as it’s operated by the federal government. When combined with Part A—used for hospital and emergency care—it provides seniors with complete medical insurance.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.