Friday’s $90 Medicare check follows a separate $5,000 midterm-tied Trump Dividend
President Donald Trump has pledged and failed to deliver direct checks to Americans three times during his time in office, according to United Press International. In 2020, Trump pledged $2,000 in COVID stimulus checks per taxpayer. In early 2025, he said he would issue a $5,000 dividend paid by potential savings from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative. Later that year, Trump said he would pay out $2,000 from tariff revenues. None of those three payouts was ever issued, UPI reported.
On Friday, Trump announced a separate payment promise — $90 checks to 20 million seniors to lower Medicare Part B premiums. Trump said the money would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, a $2 billion pool established in 2008 that is appropriated by Congress.
“I pledged to protect and preserve Medicare and Social Security, which were on the verge of RUIN by Joe Biden, who foolishly and maliciously let tens of millions of Illegal Aliens into our Country, and we are doing just that for America’s Seniors,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
White House officials said eligible seniors would receive the $90 payment via direct deposit in early October. Those without direct deposit would receive a check.
The president’s Friday $90 Medicare pledge comes weeks after he promised to send Americans $5,000 checks if Republicans maintain control of government in November’s midterm elections. On Friday, Trump linked the Medicare announcement to that earlier promise.
“Because I delivered on this very important issue for the American People, they can also rest assured the highly popular $5,000 Trump Dividend will be distributed to every U.S. Citizen if, and when, the Republicans win the Midterm Elections!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The $5,000 “Trump Dividend” is conditioned on a Republican win in November, a separate promise from the three earlier pledges UPI enumerated. The midterm-tied dividend has not yet been distributed; the three earlier pledges — $2,000 in COVID stimulus per taxpayer, a $5,000 Department of Government Efficiency dividend, and $2,000 from tariff revenues — were never issued, UPI reported.