This is an adapted excerpt from the Oct. 10 episode of “Connect with Jacob Soboroff.”
Got a problem? Throw some money at it. That’s the tried-and-true method of the ultrawealthy, including our president, Donald Trump. But this time, Trump has a big problem — a midterms-sized problem — and I’m not sure he can pay his way out of it.
With just about three weeks to go until Election Day, the Republican Party is in triage mode. And, all of a sudden, Trump is doling out checks to the American people: a one-time $500 refund check to roughly 1 million Affordable Care Act enrollees; a $90 check to about 20 million Medicare beneficiaries; and he still won’t let up on that promise to send $5,000 to every American — but only if the Republicans win in November.
Not only is this $500 ACA refund misleading, but it’s also a total gimmick.
It’s like he’s dangling a slab of meat in front of a stray dog, hoping this one-time reprieve will cause the dog to forget about years of starvation when it was begging for food. But the American people are smarter than that, and most of them are not buying it.
For one, many Americans say these checks are not nearly enough to offset their rapidly rising costs. Two, the checks came with a bizarre letter from the president, a classic Trump testimonial rife with misinformation and, some might say, propaganda.
Some of our “Connect” viewers sent us photos of the letters attached to their ACA refund check, which read in part, “For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov. That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now, I am returning it to you! With this Historic Action, my administration is taking the surplus funds that accumulated from the Obamacare ‘Premium Tax’ and issuing a one-time $500 refund.”
It notes that the refund is for Americans who do not receive subsidies to help pay for their coverage. And adds, “You have paid into this flawed System, and now you are finally getting something back.”
Trump is claiming this is all President Joe Biden’s fault, and he says he’s getting the money to pay you back from a surplus of funds that predates his second term in office. Except there’s no evidence of Trump’s claim that it was a product of “gross mismanagement” by Biden or even necessarily a product of his actions at all.
And the director of the ACA program at healthcare research nonprofit KFF told The Associated Press that it’s entirely possible the funds came from fees collected during Trump’s first term. After all, his first administration did collect more user fees from insurers than it spent, resulting in an estimated $1 billion in unspent funds, according to KFF analysis.
Not only is this $500 ACA refund misleading, but it’s also a total gimmick. As MS NOW’s Zeeshan Aleem puts it, the checks are a “cynical ploy to bait Americans.” He writes:
The most brazen part of Trump’s scheme is the way the checks function as misdirection from his own party’s role in skyrocketing premiums. The GOP’s refusal to extend ACA subsidies last year has caused the subset of people eligible for Trump’s $500 checks to see their premiums increase often by thousands of dollars … For many people who are set to receive Trump’s money, this check won’t even cover the difference in cost for one month of health insurance.
I’ll go even further and say that it’s a slap in the face to Americans who are struggling to pay health insurance, to fill their gas tanks and to put food on their tables — like Ellen Allen, a 65-year-old from West Virginia, who has a serious eye condition and needs expensive drops to preserve her vision. She told NPR that she relied on the ACA subsidies to pay for that medication. She even advocated for the Republican-controlled Congress to extend the subsidies last year. When it didn’t, she had to dip into her retirement fund to pay $1,967 every month for her premiums from January through August 2026. Nearly $2,000 a month. But at least she’s got that one-time $500 check!
Allen told NPR that she believes Trump’s move is just a political stunt: “People aren’t going to be fooled by this … if they wanted to do something meaningful, they would work on affordable healthcare instead of just sending out checks every now and then.”
I guess money can’t buy you love from the American public. They see Trump’s slab of meat — but they’re not biting.
Allison Detzel contributed.
Jacob Soboroff is the host of “Connect with Jacob Soboroff.”
Erin Clifford is a Segment Producer for “Connect with Jacob Soboroff.”
