President Donald Trump announced the refunds in a recorded address from the Oval Office released on the White House X account Thursday.
President Trump says an estimated 1 million Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, enrollees in 30 states will be getting $500 rebate checks for what the White House says were exchange fee overcharges by the Biden administration.
What we know:
Trump made the announcement in a video posted to the White House X account, saying “The relief begins with refunding everyone who was overcharged, and the rebates are going out in just a few weeks.
What they’re saying:
In a news release Thursday, the White House said “The Biden Administration overcharged Americans through Obamacare plan exchange “user fees” that were passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums, funding the operations of the federal Obamacare exchange far in excess of what was needed to run the exchange.”
The White House says the overcharges resulted in people in 30 states who don’t receive premium assistance paying higher premiums and the cost created a “significant surplus of funds that were not used to benefit the Americans who paid these higher premiums.”
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Dig deeper:
Trump says 30 states — Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming — use the federal exchange for the operations of their Obamacare markets.
What we don’t know:
It is unclear whether the $500 rebate represents what each enrollee may have overpaid, where the money for the rebates would come from and whether it requires congressional approval for disbursement.
What’s next:
The White House says the refund checks of $500 per person will be sent to eligible people beginning in October.
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