---
title: 'Trump''s $500 Obamacare Refund: How It Works'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=LCoVmGweUaA'
video_id: 'LCoVmGweUaA'
date: 2026-09-10
duration_sec: 708
channel: 'Meet Kevin'
---

# Trump's $500 Obamacare Refund: How It Works

> Source: [Trump's $500 Obamacare Refund: How It Works](https://youtube.com/watch?v=LCoVmGweUaA)

## Summary

The video breaks down two recent proposals from Donald Trump: a $5,000 check to all adults and a $500 Obamacare refund. It explains the mechanics, eligibility, and fiscal impact of each, with a focus on the $500 refund sourced from a 'slush fund' of platform fees.

### Key Points

- **Trump's $500 check proposal** [00:00] — Trump offers $500 checks in addition to the $5,000 checks announced yesterday. The $5,000 checks would go to up to 270 million Americans if Republicans sweep Congress, but the bond market is unhappy due to the added debt (~$1.35 trillion).
- **How Obamacare marketplace works** [01:29] — Obamacare created a federal website (marketplace) where insurers sell plans and subsidies are provided. The platform collects fees (2.75% to 3.5%) to run the website.
- **Enrollment doubled, fees created a slush fund** [03:09] — Between 2021 and 2025, enrollment doubled, but running the website doesn't cost twice as much, so excess fees accumulated into a 'slush fund' of about $500 million.
- **Biden's plan for the slush fund** [04:05] — The Biden administration wanted to use the money for contraceptives in states where they weren't provided, possibly via Planned Parenthood, but that plan died, leaving the money sitting.
- **Trump's plan: $500 checks** [05:07] — Trump wants to send $500 checks to about 1 million eligible people. This money is from the slush fund, not new debt, so it won't affect the bond market or U.S. debt.
- **Eligibility criteria** [06:42] — To be eligible, you must have been enrolled in Obamacare, not received a subsidy (income too high), and not be in a state-run exchange (like California or New York). About 30 states, mostly Republican-leaning, are eligible.
- **Checks before election, historical precedent** [08:01] — Checks are expected to go out before the election. George W. Bush sent similar stimulus checks in February 2008, which the creator remembers vividly.
- **Branding and transparency** [09:29] — The Trump administration brands this as returning Biden's surplus, but Trump also collected these fees. The creator notes the lack of transparency and the political framing.

### Conclusion

The $500 Obamacare refund is a return of accumulated platform fees, not new debt, so it won't impact the deficit or bond market. However, it's a politically motivated move to send checks before the election, with eligibility limited to about 1 million people in 30 states.

## Transcript

Donald Trump is now offering to send $500 checks. This is in addition to the $5,000 he talked about yesterday. There's going to be a lot of confusion about how this works,
so we're just going to break this down as simply as possible. So first, yesterday, we got this announcement about a $5,000 check to all adults. That's as many as 270 million Americans.
if Republicans sweep both the House and the Senate. Given that we've previously heard about those dividends and tariff dividend refund checks and those haven't come through,
I think a lot of people are going to be looking through that $5,000 check and say, hey, you're just trying to buy our vote. And people are going to evaluate how they actually feel the likelihood of that is. Probably not very likely, but the bond market's not very happy about it
because we see it as more debt in markets, a lot more debt, about $1.35-ish trillion of additional debt. And then, of course, usually what happens if you're going to do a big stimulative plan like that,
you end up attaching, like, business stimulus or some more tax breaks, maybe even the capital gains tax, removal or waiver for a certain period of time, which then balloons into a multi-trillion dollar package.
Not unusual. This $500 Obamacare refund is a little different. So, it's a little complicated with how it works, so I'm going to try to simplify it.
Basically, Obamacare was passed, and the insurance companies realized, okay, we're going to offer insurance for sale through this marketplace that the government's going to put together.
So, the federal government puts together this website, and this website we call a marketplace. It makes it sound fancier than just some stupid website, right? But basically, it's a marketplace, a website, where insurers could say, hey, you could buy the Anthem, you could buy the, you know, buy the Kaiser plan, whatever you want.
It doesn't matter. Go make your selection here. And the idea was to put them all in one place to make it easier for people to shop for it, and then also consolidate where subsidies are provided to help people afford these various different plans.
there was no government option included in Obamacare when it was passed. It was called the Affordable Care Act back in 2010 when it was passed. Now, what's interesting, actually, in featured debate back then,
I had debates about Obamacare, so I remember growing up kind of during this, you know, college and high school. But anyway, what's interesting about this is that this platform would collect fees
of between 2.75 to as high as 3.1. Actually, I think it was even more. It might have been as high as like 3 Some of those fees were collected during the Trump administration during Trump 1 It up to 3 fees So this is how much was collected to run the website The
thing is, between 2021 and 2025, enrollment doubled. You got twice as many people using this website, this platform, this marketplace.
But it doesn't cost twice as much to run the marketplace just because twice as many people are using it because it's a website. It's software. So that meant fees had regularly kind of been adjusted with a dial
and you kind of ended up creating this slush fund, I like to call it. You know, anytime there's extra money that the government has access to, I call it a slush fund. It was slush money.
Now, the Biden administration wanted to use this slush money to basically support contraceptives in states where they weren't provided.
So they were basically thinking, it was, honestly, it probably would have been like a planned parenthood. I don't know why PP always comes up around this channel. but would probably have been like funding or donations to Planned Parenthood to provide contraceptives to states that aren't,
which is kind of a more left-leaning social distribution of money, especially in states that are more right-leaning or leaning more potentially religious that are not supportive of that. Okay, that was the Biden administration's plan for that money.
That ended up dying, and so that money's been sitting there, and it's just been growing. That money that, you know, Biden was trying to send to PeePee, I'm approximating, okay, it could have been sent to many different entities and organizations for distribution purposes.
That money works out to about $500 million now. So you've got $500 million sitting around in a slush fund. And then, of course, the very first thing that Donald Trump thinks of
when he, you know, sees money sitting around is how can I put $500 with my face on it on a check and send it to people so we could buy votes?
Don't get me wrong. All the politicians do this. You remember the Gavin Newsom stimulus relief checks where they were literally sending money to people,
calling it... Oh, no, they were inflation relief checks. Sorry, not stimulus relief checks. They were inflation relief stimulus checks. They sent in California, and I'm like, this is... That how you cause inflation And they sending inflation relief checks Anyway it basically the same idea here However there is a difference about this flush money It should not affect the debt or therefore the bond market
So this $500 release of money would be a lot less impactful to the bond market or U.S. government debt than sending out more stimulus money by issuing debt.
Now, could they take this $500 million and just send it to pay off the debt? Yes. But does that buy Donald Trump a check with his name on it?
No. So instead, they're saying, hey, $500 checks, we got $500 million. That works out to about 1 million people that would be eligible for this money. Now, how would you end up being...
Oh, I forgot the hair in the drawing. Hold on, let me... There we go. Yeah, the orange. Ready to go. It was meant to be.
All right. So who is eligible for this? So to be eligible for this, you had to have been enrolled in Obamacare, and you had to have not received this subsidy. So you didn't qualify for the subsidy because your income was too high or whatever.
That's generally what the rule of thumb is. If your income is too high, you don't qualify for the subsidy, So you pay full price on the market price, and you pay that excess fee, if you will. States that have their own state-run exchanges are not included in this.
So states like California and New York are not going to be eligible for this. This is mostly going to apply, and there's a White House statute on this, but this is mostly going to apply to what appear to be relatively Republican-leading states overall here.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Delaware, New Hampshire, Texas, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, up to about a total of 30 states that would be eligible for this.
$500 per person for nearly 1 million Americans in 30 states. This is just a return of money that says it's not issuing debt, but then we're also not paying off the debt, right? Can we really get that clear?
The checks would expect to go out before the election. Now, obviously, the White House isn't branding this as, we're trying to buy your vote. But, you know, you get a check for $500.
I mean, even George W. Bush did that. Who remembers that? George W. Bush, I think it was like $300 or $500 semi-checks around, I think it was 2009. Was it 2009 or 2008?
It must have been 2008 because Obama won November of 2008 and took off his jam. so it might have been right before the election.
That would be very interesting to see. When did George W. Bush send stimulus checks? Quick Google I got a no February 2008 Yeah to Look at that I remember that That crazy Anyway I remember seeing the check My dad was holding the check I didn get
the check. My dad was holding the check. He's like, wow, the president just sent us money. And what did I say? Can I have it? Anyway, I know exactly where it was. I don't know
why, but that is the very first stimulus check memory is gray, like, seared into my mind. Very weird. But anyway, the Biden, the Trump administration is branding this as the Biden
administration has accumulated a significant surplus of funds. Keep in mind, the Trump administration also charged these fees. So I kind of think it's an interesting thing. Like, on one hand, he's not being transparent about the fact that they also charge these
fees, they continue those fees, because they can turn the dial down. But then it's also kind of like, hey guys, Biden collected all this money for you, this is Biden's stimulus. It's like, how do you want to slice it? Obviously Trump is going to slice it as, I'm the hero,
giving it back. But you also did collect it. So anyway, we've gone through most of the details of this. Again, this was for a platform fee between 2021 and 2025. That's when we had that
2.75 to 3.5% fee. Sorry, enrollment doubled between 21 and 24 hours. The platform fees have been collected since the exchanges began to help subsidize the actual creation of these. When the
marketplaces were first created after 2010, a lot of money was spent on actually building the infrastructure. The money really started accruing post-COVID as more people enrolled. Again, have to be enrolled in Obamacare. You didn't receive, which means you bought through an
exchange. If you bought through the marketplace and you didn't get a subsidy, you would be eligible for this. If you're state-run, potentially eligible. If you're on a state-run exchange, it would not qualify, although a lot of states often mimic what the federal government does
later, especially Gavin Newsom. He does that all the time. It's like, well, that's a good idea, which would send checks. And then you have to make sure that you are not getting an actual premium subsidy. So there you go. That's the fact sheet broken down on the Obamacare
refund and whether or not that would actually affect the deficit. Of course, the 10-year treasury today is up to 7.4 basis points at 9.4%, which is insane. But there are plenty
of other factors driving this out of getting the $500. How do you not advertise these things that you told us here? I feel like nobody else knows about this. We'll try a little advertising and see how it goes. Congratulations, man. You have done so much. People love you.
People look up to you. Kevin Pass left there. Financial analyst. And YouTuber. Meet Kevin. Always great to get your take.