Healthcare

Trump Taps Slush Fund To Cut Checks For 20,000,000 Americans

Screenshot/Rumble/Fox Business

The federal government will be issuing one-time payments to assist enrolled seniors in paying for their Medicare Part B premiums, according to a Friday announcement from the White House.

President Donald Trump announced he would be utilizing Congress’ $2 billion Medicare Improvement Fund to award $90 checks for over 20 million enrollees, to assist them in paying for their premiums. This announcement comes a month before the midterm elections and at a time when Trump’s approval rating for his healthcare policies remains low — including in areas that largely backed his 2024 presidential campaign.

A September survey found that 54% of voters in rural areas across the country are not happy with the president’s approach to handling healthcare.

“President Trump believes that Medicare Improvement Funds should be used to directly help people on Medicare, not special interests, and is returning healthcare dollars back into the hands of the American people to benefit them and their individual healthcare needs,” a Wednesday fact sheet from the White House states.

The Trump Administration “is cracking down on fraud and corruption … and has taken the strongest actions to protect the integrity of the exchanges, including ending loopholes used to fraudulently enroll individuals,” the sheet added.

“President Trump is enabling Americans to take control of their health by putting money directly back in the hands of Medicare patients,” White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “In addition to guaranteeing discounted prices on prescription drugs through his Most-Favored-Nation drug pricing agreements, distributing $500 Obamacare Refund checks, and increasing price transparency across the board, President Trump is delivering on his promise to lower costs for American patients by putting them first and taking on the special interests that have used the status quo in Washington to raise healthcare costs for Americans.”

However, the White House did not appear to address questions from the DCNF about how the administration plans to verify users claims for the program and protect against fraudulent use of the benefits.

President Trump’s actions and introduction of the TrumpRX program is lowering drug prices with a total estimate of $600 billion in savings over the next decade, a White House official told the DCNF, citing the Council of Economic Advisors.

A spokesperson for the Senate Aging Committee did not provide a comment on the record by publication.

The Medicare Improvement Fund was signed into law by President George W. Bush back in 2008, as part of the Supplemental Appropriations Act.

Since then, no administration has tapped into the fund to make payments for Medicare, according to the White House fact sheet. Most seniors enrolled in Medicare Part B are eligible for the payments, unless those premiums are already paid by Medicaid.

During the summer, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a record number of healthcare fraud, finding $6.5 billion worth in alleged fraud charges and seeking the prosecution of 455 individuals.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sought to “suspend 1,079 providers and revoke billing privileges for 1,403 providers,” and in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General found that more than $10 billion in payments to a Medicare Trust Fund were paid to fraudulent providers, according to a June DOJ press release.