Trump announces $90 payments for seniors’ Medicare premium costs ahead of midterm elections — SkimNews
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- Trump announced $90 one-time payments to more than 20 million Medicare Part B enrollees to help cover premiums, with payments arriving in October via direct deposit or check.
- The $90 payments will be drawn from the Medicare Improvement Fund, a flexible funding pool established by Congress in 2008 that the White House says gives the administration discretion to deploy this way.
- Eligibility rules exclude seniors on Medicare Advantage — the private-plan alternative used by more than half of eligible beneficiaries per KFF — as well as those receiving Medicaid premium assistance or paying income-adjusted premiums.
- KFF's Larry Levitt noted previous administrations have not used the Medicare Improvement Fund this way, though Congress has tapped it before, including $20.74 billion to help create the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
- Trump's broader pre-midterm pledge includes $500 ACA rebate checks to about 1 million people and a $5,000 payment promise to every American adult that would cost more than $1 trillion and require Congressional approval.
- At a Vandalia, Ohio rally, Trump said 70,000 Ohio families would receive ACA rebates "within the next couple of days" and mused that $1,776 military payments announced in December should have been timed closer to the election.
Why it matters: By tapping the Medicare Improvement Fund rather than seeking new legislation, Trump sidestepped Congress to deliver $90 checks to 20 million seniors weeks before the midterms — but the exclusion of Medicare Advantage enrollees means more than half of eligible beneficiaries get nothing from this particular payment.
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