Some Virginia Seniors Could Get A $90 Medicare Surprise

Some older Virginia residents could get a $90 surprise in their bank accounts this week and not understand why.

Some of the $90 deposits by the Social Security Administration have already hit older Americans' bank accounts under an announcement by the Trump administration that it would send checks to 20 million Medicare enrollees to lower health care costs.

Subscribe

Not every Medicare beneficiary in Virginia is eligible, though. Read the rest of the story for more details.

Who Is Eligible?

The White House said Medicare Part B enrollees can expect a one-time payment in October, either by direct deposit or check. The program covers doctor visits, lab tests, and ambulance services, with premiums starting at about $200 and varying by income level.

People enrolled in Medicare Advantage, a private alternative to standard Medicare, won't receive the payment. That would exclude more than half of Medicare beneficiaries, according to data from KFF, a nonprofit focused on health care research.

Who Funds It?

The White House said the $90 payments for seniors will come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which Congress established in 2008 as flexible funding to improve program operations and pay health care providers.

Previous administrations have not used the Medicare Improvement Fund in this way, although Congress has periodically taken out money from the fund to pay for other priorities, Larry Levitt, KFF's executive vice president for health policy, told The Associated Press. For example, the fund provided $20.74 billion to create the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

"The Medicare Improvement Fund language is quite broad and gives substantial discretion to the administration," Levitt said.

The payments are expected to cost about $1.87 billion. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says 20.8 million Medicare beneficiaries qualify for the $90 rebate, nearly exhausting the roughly $2 billion currently available in the Medicare Improvement Fund.

Why Now?

President Donald Trump's announcement of the $90 payments late Friday came weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Despite his claims of a booming economy, polls show voters blame Trump for high gas and grocery prices, with only 17 percent approving of how he's handled inflation.

The recent announcement of $90 payments follows a rollout last month, which slated 1 million individuals to receive $500 rebate checks for Affordable Care Act premiums. Trump has also promised on the campaign trail to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections.

That pledge — which would require approval from Congress — would likely cost more than $1 trillion, adding to the deficit and worsening inflation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.