Fact check: Trump distorts the facts in referring to cost-sharing subsidies as 'bailouts'

President Trump said “bailouts for insurance companies” would “end very soon” if Congress didn’t pass a new health care bill. Sen. Susan Collins said the payments aren’t a bailout, “but rather help people who are very low-income afford their out-of-pocket costs.”

Trump distorts the facts. It’s true that the money involved goes directly to insurance companies, but, as Collins said, the payments lower out-of-pocket health care costs for low-income individuals. We’ll explain how these payments work.

The president gave his description in a July 29 tweet:

A “bailout,” as we have written before, is financial assistance to save a failing company or industry. The 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program, for instance, provided billions to stabilize financial institutions and the auto industry. Under that bailout, the Treasury Department was able to recoup the disbursements. It recovered about 90% of its investments in the auto industry and earned a profit on its bank investments. (Trump also misuses the word “bailout” to describe the federal government’s contribution toward health insurance premiums for members of Congress, but we will get to that later.)