How I Spent My $90 Medicare Part B Premium Rebate Check

I’m a Medicare beneficiary. I became one in April 2025 when I turned 65. I have traditional Medicare. I pay $0 for Medicare Part A because I paid my FICA taxes for decades. I pay $202.90 each month for my Medicare Part B coverage. I have separate Medicare Part D prescription drug and Medicare supplement plans through commercial health insurers.

On Thursday, Oct. 8, Medicare sent me an email with “A message From President Trump” in the subject line. The email was in my spam folder, appropriately enough. Cheeto Jesus told me he was going to send me a “One-time payment of $90 to offset some of the cost of your October Medicare premium.” He also had a lot of regurgitated campaign lies and false brags about all the wonderful things he’s doing to make healthcare more affordable for us citizens.

I’m from Chicago, and I know a bribe when I see one. He could send me $90 million, and I still won’t vote for him or anyone else in the fascist MAGA GOP party on Nov. 3.

On Tuesday, Oct. 13, I got my $90 Medicare rebate check for my monthly Medicare Part B premium. It came hard mail from the U.S. Treasury Department. When I first saw the envelope, I thought maybe it was an additional tax refund from my 2025 federal tax return. Clearly, that’s what they want you to feel when you see it. The head rush you get when you think you’re getting money back from the feds. The head rush that the fascists hope will cloud your judgment on election day.

It didn’t, and it won’t.

I cashed the $90 check, and on Friday, Oct. 16, I donated $90 to the James Talarico campaign for U.S. Senator for Texas. The confirmation email is below:

Here’s a receipt for your $90.00 contribution. Create an ActBlue Express account to view your contribution history.

Thank you for your one-time contribution to James Talarico!

Together we’re changing our country.

A message from James Talarico

Thank you for donating to Talarico for Texas! We’re so grateful for your contribution to our campaign.

If you’re interested in learning about more opportunities to get involved, we’d love for you to join our volunteer team. Please sign up here, and we’ll share an email with everything you need to get started.

Thank you again for being with us!

Team Talarico

$90.00 Total Contribution.  One-time Contribution

James Talarico $90.00         Total Charged $90.00

Name: David Burda

Order Date: 10/16/2026

Order Number: AB419508753 This transaction will appear as one or more charges to ACTBLUE*JAMES.TALARICO on your credit card statement.

A day later, on Saturday, Oct. 17, I participated in the nationwide No Kings rally. This rally was focused on getting people out to vote. I was located on the northwest corner of Naperville Road and Roosevelt Road in Wheaton, Illinois, with my wife and a few hundred of my fellow No Kings protesters.

When a red light would stop traffic heading east on Roosevelt, I would shout out to anyone with an open window, “Are you registered to vote?” Most drivers who heard me gave me a thumbs up. One gave me a thumbs up but politely said he was voting for the current president. I said back politely, “I’m glad you’re registered.”

One driver gets my vote for Nazi father of the year. He was in a big blue pickup truck, stopped at the light heading east on Roosevelt. His young son was in the passenger seat. I’m guessing the son was 8 years old. His dad repeatedly shouted out to us, “I hope you all get raped by illegals. I hope you all get raped by illegals.” I looked at his son’s face. It was a mix of shock, terror and embarrassment.

I captured the moment but I decided not to share it on social media. Why give his knucklehead more publicity? Why do something that exacerbates what his son was feeling?

Then I thought about the $90. It was the best money I ever spent.

When I tried to print out the Cheeto Jesus email from Medicare as sender, Google sent me this message: “The requested conversation has been deleted and is no longer available.” When I checked the message and hit “Not spam” to send it to my inbox, it disappeared. What bribe? I never sent you a bribe!

If you want to build better healthcare, you know what to do on Nov. 3.