President Donald Trump said late Friday night that more than 20 million seniors will receive $90 each to help pay for Medicare premiums, adding a new voter-facing payment program just ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The White House said the one-time payments will go to Medicare Part B enrollees in October, either through direct deposit or by check.
The announcement follows other recent promises from Trump, including last month’s statement that about 1 million people would get $500 rebate checks for Affordable Care Act premiums and his campaign pledge to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate. That broader $5,000 plan would require approval from Congress and would likely cost more than $1 trillion, adding to the deficit and worsening inflation, according to the source report.
How The Payments Would Work
The White House said the $90 payments will come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which Congress established in 2008 as flexible funding to improve program operations and payments to health care providers. Medicare Part B covers costs including doctor’s visits, ambulance services and lab tests, and monthly costs for the program start around $200 and vary with income.
To qualify, seniors must be living in the U.S. and cannot already be receiving premium assistance from Medicaid or paying adjusted monthly premiums based on income, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage are also excluded. More than half of eligible Medicare beneficiaries have Medicare Advantage, according to KFF.
The Policy Signal
The policy significance is less the size of the payment than the mechanism. Larry Levitt, KFF’s executive vice president for health policy, said previous administrations have not used the Medicare Improvement Fund in this way, though Congress has periodically pulled money from the fund for other priorities. He cited one example: $20.74 billion was used for the creation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
Levitt said the fund’s language is “quite broad and gives substantial discretion to the administration.” That makes this announcement a test of how far an administration can stretch an existing Medicare financing tool into direct consumer relief during an election season, especially when the exclusions leave out a large share of beneficiaries.
