Trump Announces One-Time $90 Payments To 20 Million Seniors In Medicare

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump announced on Oct. 2 that his administration would issue one-time $90 payments to more than 20 million seniors enrolled in Medicare.

Trump said the payments were meant to help seniors cover Medicare premiums and would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which Congress has allocated $2 billion to improve Medicare’s fee-for-service program but has never been used, according to a White House fact sheet.

“We are finally using this Fund, along with my Most Favored Nations Deals, to substantially lower costs for our Seniors,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post.

Eligible Medicare recipients will receive the payment in early October by direct deposit or by check sent to the mailing address they registered with Medicare, the White House said.

Most Medicare Part B enrollees are eligible for the payments, except those whose premiums are already paid by Medicaid or who pay an income-related monthly adjustment amount, the White House said.

“With this action, President Trump is the first President to ever use the Medicare Improvement Fund to directly lower costs for senior citizens,” it stated.

Medicare is federal health insurance for Americans 65 or older and some with disabilities. Medicare Part B covers doctors’ services, outpatient care, and some preventive services such as flu vaccinations and diabetes screenings.

Trump said in his post that the $90 payments are separate from the $500 rebate checks his administration planned to send to nearly 1 million people who were overcharged for their coverage through the Affordable Care Act – President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, known as Obamacare – under the previous administration.

The one-time payments for seniors, Trump said, also demonstrated his commitment to carry out a plan to give every American adult a $5,000 dividend check if Republicans retain control of Congress in the November election.

The president first announced the $5,000 payment during a Sept. 9 Republican event in Dallas, Texas, calling it the Trump dividend. He promised the payment if Americans return Republican majorities to both the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 3, which he said could be made possible by his tariff policies.

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey estimated that there were 245 million adult U.S. citizens in the country as of 2024, meaning the payouts would cost about $1.3 trillion.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told NBC News on Sept. 10 that, if implemented, the $5,000 dividend checks for citizens would not be paid for with taxpayer dollars. He said the administration could “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers.”

Melanie Sun contributed to this report.