Inflation Reduction Act targets drug costs, emissions; not monthly subsidies | Fact check

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Inflation Reduction Act updated to pay up to $6,400 monthly to Americans making less than $50,000 a year

A Dec. 5 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows a clip of lawmakers applauding followed by footage of people shopping.

"The new Inflation Reduction Act has just been updated to give Americans making less than $50,000 per year up to $6,400 in subsidies every single month," a narrator says.

The caption warns of a Dec. 8 deadline for Americans to "claim their $6,400 in subsidies."

The post was shared more than 60 times in a week.

More from the USA TODAY Fact-Check Team:

Our rating: False

The Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law in 2022 and has not been updated to provide monthly subsidies at any income level. The post leads to a website not affiliated with the U.S. government.

Inflation Reduction Act not updated to provide monthly subsidies

The Inflation Reduction Act became law on Aug. 16, 2022, when it was signed by President Joe Biden after months of negotiations with Congress. The legislative package targeted different parts of the economy with a variety of provisions including prescription drug price reform and a 15% minimum corporate tax rate, as well as investments and tax breaks meant to reduce the country's carbon emissions.

However, the law has not been changed – or "updated," as the post claims – to provide thousands of dollars a month to people below a certain income threshold.

There have been efforts by some Republican lawmakers to eliminate the law's clean energy tax credits and cut funding it provided to the IRS, but "there is no discussion of any changes to the law itself," said John Buhl, a spokesperson for the Tax Policy Center, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.

While there were several rounds of stimulus checks sent out in response to the pandemic, the government "typically does not distribute cash benefits directly to people," Buhl said.

"Due to the nature of internet click-bait headlines on smaller sites, there has been a steady flow of headlines suggesting new stimulus checks are coming soon," he said. "But that is not at all the case and hasn't been a possibility for a long time."

Fact check: Inflation Reduction Act will lower cost of health insurance, prescription drugs

The Inflation Reduction Act did include an extension of tax credits to help more people get health insurance at no out-of-pocket cost through the marketplace set up by the Affordable Care Act. That isn't the same as the subsidies promised in the Facebook post, though.

There is no mention of the $6,400 in monthly subsidies in a summary of the legislation released by the White House when it was signed, nor is it mentioned in a similar fact sheet released a year later.

The Facebook post includes a link to a website that is not an official U.S. government website. It asks about income and health insurance coverage and, with the correct responses, says "You qualify for No Cost ($0) Health Insurance: this special offers (sic) gives you $400-$1400 a month in spending credits!" It doesn't mention the Inflation Reduction Act or the purported subsidies in the Facebook post.

PolitiFact and Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Inflation Reduction Act doesn't give $6,400 subsidies | Fact check