Last week, the Trump administration began sending $500 checks to roughly 1 million Obamacare enrollees in 30 states—a “refund” for what the administration calls “high costs imposed by the Biden administration’s gross mismanagement of Obamacare.”

In a video posted to X on September 10, President Trump said that his “administration is doing the right thing and giving the money back to the people who were wrongly ripped off,” adding that “in many cases, these refunds will cover the entire cost of your insurance caused by Democrats.”

The administration’s strategy, it appears to its critics, is to sway voters ahead of the midterm elections next month, as Republicans risk losing their majorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate. 

“This announcement is less about health policy and much more about the 2026 Congressional elections,” Jonathan Oberlander, a professor of health policy and political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told CNBC about the plan.

With high costs and inflation top of mind for many voters, the onetime payments may be a gambit to gain some ground back in the polls, similar to Trump’s separate promise to send $5,000 to Americans in the event that Republicans win in November. 

Brad Woodhouse, a Democratic activist and executive director of Protect Our Care, an advocacy group, called the plan “an absolute joke” in a statement.

“At a time when people are scraping by to keep up with the high cost of groceries, rent, and healthcare, this $500 gimmick won’t even begin to dig them out of the hole that Trump and Republicans created,” Woodhouse said.

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