Cheques before the vote: Trump's payout promises raise questions
$500 for insured people, $90 for Medicare recipients, $5,000 for every adult: weeks before the midterms, Trump is promising money. Critics speak of buying votes.
Archive image · Photo: White House Office / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Weeks before the congressional elections on 3 November, the Trump administration is sending out cheques and promising further payments. According to PBS NewsHour, around one million people in 30 states who are insured through the Obamacare (ACA) marketplaces but receive no premium assistance are getting $500 each – with a personal letter from the president. About 21 million Medicare Part B enrollees are to receive a one-time $90 payment. The money comes from a fund created by Congress in 2008, which the report says is being used for direct payments for the first time.
Going further still is a promise Trump made about a month ago at a party gathering in Dallas: $5,000 for every adult US citizen. According to PBS, that would cost around $1 trillion, added to the national debt. Trump has tied the payment to Republicans winning the House and Senate and calls it a "reward" for enduring his predecessor's economic policies. A $2,000 "tariff dividend" promised in November 2025 has not materialised, according to the report.
Democrats accuse the president of trying to bribe voters. The White House argues that the Biden administration built up surpluses from fees that did not benefit those who paid them. Cynthia Cox of the health foundation KFF counters that the Trump administration inherited the surplus and is now distributing it. She described the timing, weeks before the election, as politically motivated.