Trump Says More Than 20 Million Seniors Will Receive $90 to Help With Medicare Part B Costs
by Jerome London · Thought CatalogUpdated 7 minutes ago, October 5, 2026
The one-time payments, which Trump announced on Oct. 2, are meant to lower what seniors pay for Medicare Part B premiums. The White House says they’ll start going out in early October, mostly by direct deposit, with the rest mailed as physical checks to the address recipients used when they signed up for Medicare.
To cover the cost, the administration is tapping the $2 billion Medicare Improvement Fund, which Congress created in 2008 to improve the Medicare fee-for-service program. The White House called it a “historic action to help senior citizens” and said the fund has never before been used to “directly lower costs” for them. On Truth Social, Trump described it as “a pointless ‘Slush Fund’ that has only been used by Dumocrats in Congress to pay for the Waste, Fraud, and Abuse for their Special Interest friends, and drive up Healthcare costs.”
Most Medicare Part B enrollees qualify, the administration said. Seniors whose premiums are already paid by Medicaid, or who pay an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, do not.
Checks are headed to all 50 states, with the most populated getting the most: California leads with more than 1.52 million, followed by Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania. States including Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota are each set to receive fewer than 100,000.
It’s the latest in a run of financial promises Trump, 80, has made ahead of the November midterms. He clarified Friday that the $90 is separate from the $500 rebate checks his administration has pledged to people it says were overcharged for coverage under Biden, and from the $5,000 payments he’s floated for all Americans if voters keep Republicans in control of Congress.
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