Oct 3, 2026 — President Donald Trump announced late Friday that his administration will send one-time $90 payments to more than 20 million seniors, drawn from a $2 billion Medicare fund that Congress created in 2008 and that no president has ever tapped before.
“My Administration will, immediately, begin sending ‘Checks’ of nearly $100 to over 20 MILLION wonderful Seniors to help pay for their Medicare Part B premiums,” the president wrote on Truth Social late Friday, Oct. 2.
The math is straightforward: $2 billion divided by roughly 20 million recipients works out to about $90 a person. A White House fact sheet released alongside the announcement pegged the payment at exactly $90 and said Trump is the first president ever to use the Medicare Improvement Fund.
According to the fact sheet, most Medicare Part B enrollees are eligible. The money will arrive in early October, either as a direct deposit or as a check mailed to the address on file with Medicare.
Not everyone qualifies. Enrollees whose Part B premiums are already paid by Medicaid are excluded, as are those subject to the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount — the surcharge applied to higher-income retirees — according to the White House.
In his post, Trump called the Medicare Improvement Fund “a pointless ‘Slush Fund'” and framed the payments as immediate relief against rising health care costs, tied to what he described as the administration’s Most Favored Nation drug-pricing efforts.
The announcement is the latest in a string of direct-payment promises from the president ahead of the November midterm elections. It comes alongside a separate administration move to send $500 payments to about 950,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees, which the White House described as a refund for allegedly excessive user fees.
Sources:
- USA Today
- White House fact sheet
President Donald Trump speaking with members of the media at the White House. (White House official photo by Daniel Torok, Wikimedia Commons, public domain)