The first of the $500 Obamacare refund checks went into the mail on Sept. 30, an administration official told ABC News, and the letter that comes with each one puts the blame for the overcharge on the Biden administration. Treasury is sending the checks to about 950,000 people, the official said. In an Oct. 1 report, ABC’s Mary Kekatos wrote that it is not clear how long they will take to arrive.

The letter, according to the official who showed it to ABC, reads in part: “For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov.” It continues: “That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now, I am returning it to you.” ABC’s report includes no on-the-record comment from the White House or Treasury, and the mailing date, the 950,000 count and the letter text all come from the unnamed official.

The White House has said less. Its fact sheet on the “Working Families Obamacare Refunds”, published Sept. 10 and last modified Sept. 29, says “checks will be sent to eligible Americans beginning in October 2026.” It describes $500 per person for nearly 1 million people in 30 states and gives no mailing date, delivery window or application process.

For a household that bought full-price coverage on HealthCare.gov, the practical question is whether a check is on its way and when. The fact sheet says the money goes to people who “do not receive premium assistance” in the 30 states that use the federal exchange. ABC’s source said most recipients have incomes above 400 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $15,960 a year for one person in the contiguous 48 states and D.C., though some earn between 100 and 400 percent and did not receive subsidies. The 20 states that run their own exchanges are not included.

The count of people getting the $500 check, about 950,000 according to the official who spoke to ABC, is the number most likely to be updated.

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The 30 states on the list

The White House fact sheet names the 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. ABC reports, from administration data, that Texas and Florida have the most recipients, followed by Wisconsin, Arizona and Oregon.

Where the money comes from

The administration says the refunds return exchange user fees that funded HealthCare.gov “far in excess of what was needed to run the exchange,” creating a surplus, and that the fees were passed on to consumers as higher premiums. The fact sheet puts the total at “hundreds of millions.” It does not give a dollar figure for the surplus. ABC reported that President Donald Trump claimed in a video on X last month, without evidence, that the Biden administration had sat on a pool of unused surplus money.

Gerard Anderson, a professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC he doubts the checks will reach the people most in need. In his words, the payment “does not target the people most likely to have been harmed by the policy changes” made by the administration. He added that the check amount is not tied to a person’s medical condition, which strongly affects premiums.

A separate promise

The checks are not the same as the $5,000 “dividend” that Trump proposed at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas for all adult Americans if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate, ABC notes. The refunds are a separate program tied to marketplace fees, and ABC says enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of last year and have not been renewed.

Watching for a $500 check from Treasury

Neither the White House fact sheet nor ABC’s report says that recipients have to do anything to receive a check. The fact sheet lists no application steps or contact information. The HealthCare.gov site is the place for marketplace account questions, and the White House fact sheet is the administration’s posted statement on the program.

The practical steps are plain. Check the list of 30 states, then consider whether coverage was full price with no premium assistance. Keep an eye on the mail and look for official mail, since ABC could not say how long delivery will take. Anyone who gets a letter and is unsure of its source can compare the wording with the text ABC quoted.

The one date in play is Sept. 30, the day an administration official says the mailing started. The White House’s own wording still says October, with no day attached.

More Financial Reading

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.