The Trump administration has started mailing $500 checks to people who bought Obamacare coverage on HealthCare.gov without any premium assistance. An administration official told ABC News the checks went out beginning Wednesday, September 30. The 20 states that run their own health insurance exchanges are not part of the program.
Which 30 states are getting the $500 checks?
The White House fact sheet lists 30 states that use the federal exchange: 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.
The fact sheet puts the amount at $500 per person and the number of recipients at nearly 1 million Americans. The administration gave ABC News a slightly different count, about 950,000 people. Texas and Florida have the most recipients, followed by Wisconsin, Arizona and Oregon.
Who is left out, and why?
Every state not on that list gets nothing. That leaves 20 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
The administration official told ABC News that those states run their own exchanges, so the federal government did not oversee collecting user fees on them. The White House ties the refunds to exchange user fees that were passed on to consumers in higher premiums, and the fact sheet says the checks return that money.
Is a check on the way to your mailbox?
A reader in one of the 30 states is in line for a check only if no premium assistance was received through HealthCare.gov. The fact sheet describes the recipients as Americans who did not receive premium assistance and so paid the full cost of the premium. Someone who got a subsidy, or who lives in a state-run exchange state such as California or New York, is not on the list.
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There is no application. The fact sheet describes no sign-up, and the checks are supposed to arrive on their own. The fact sheet itself says checks go out beginning in October 2026. The September 30 start date comes from the official quoted by ABC News, which reported on October 1 that it is unclear how long delivery will take.
What have the first recipients seen?
Checks were in hand by October 14. A Nebraska couple received two $500 checks, one for each spouse, according to WOWT in Omaha. The family told the station the money adds up to little relief against their premiums.
Each check comes with a letter. ABC News viewed one, and it says the Biden administration overcharged the recipient to fund the operation of HealthCare.gov and that the money is being returned.
The administration official told ABC News that the main recipients have incomes above 400% of the federal poverty level, and that some people earning between 100% and 400% who did not receive subsidies are included. ABC News put the poverty level at $15,960 a year for one person in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia.
Gerard Anderson, a health policy professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News he doubts the checks reach the people who need help most. He said the payment does not target the people most affected by the end of the enhanced premium tax credits, and it is not tied to a person’s medical condition.
What should a household watch for before cashing one?
The checks come from the Treasury Department, which the administration says is issuing them. A real one arrives by mail with the letter described above, and it asks for nothing: no fee, no sign-up, no bank details by phone. Anyone who gets a call or text about a $500 Obamacare payment is not hearing from the program the fact sheet describes.
The open question for a household in one of the 30 states is simple. Did a check arrive, in what amount, and for how many people on the plan? The White House fact sheet is the place to confirm the state list and the amount.
No $500 Obamacare check in the mail yet?
Mailing began September 30, but no one has said how long delivery will take, and a household in one of the 30 states can lose track of which person received which $500. A check that sits in a pile of mail, or arrives for a spouse and not the other, is easy to lose.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes a claim log and payment tracker, built into a 5-tab Excel tracker pre-filled with all 51 state unclaimed-property offices, so each check and its date are written down in one place.
Get the check log and payment tracker for the $500 Obamacare refund →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
