WASHINGTON-President Trump began sending $500 checks to nearly one million people and enclosed a letter touting his record on cutting healthcare costs, just a month before voters go to the polls for the midterm elections.

The administration first announced the checks earlier in September, saying the payments would go to people who paid what it called excessive fees under the Affordable Care Act. On Wednesday, the president posted a video from the Oval Office saying "our Administration is doing the right thing and giving the money back to the people who were wrongly ripped off."

In the letter accompanying the checks that is signed by Trump, he says: "Since returning to office, I have fought to lower Healthcare Costs, increase Accountability, and Put Patients First." He also touts the TrumpRx drug program that offers some medications for lower costs through negotiated deals the administration made with pharmaceutical companies.

Republicans are working to defend their majorities in the House and Senate this fall, but face voters increasingly concerned about rising costs.

The checks will go to people who bought ACA plans in 30 states that use the federal insurance health insurance marketplace to sell ACA coverage. An administration official said the primary recipients of the checks will be people who didn't receive subsidized healthcare plans.

Trump has been pushing for a way to send checks to Americans since his term began. Trump promised at the Dallas Republican convention in early September to pay $5,000 to American adults if Republicans won the midterms. He has made similar promises in the past that haven't materialized. Early on in his term he said he wanted to give "20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens," as the government was working to cut waste.