Technology and Science22 September, 20263 min read
Trump Administration Halts Obamacare Enrollment For 760,000 People, Vance Says Fraud
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Approximately 760,000 ACA enrollments canceled amid suspected fraud and ineligibility. Policy aims to save about $2.2 billion in taxpayer subsidies by removing these enrollments.
9 outlets told this the same way.
ACA enrollment halted
Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration is halting enrollment in Obamacare health plans for more than 760,000 people it believes were fraudulently signed up, as part of an anti-fraud effort Vance estimated would save $2.2 billion in taxpayer money. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services canceled about 315,000 plans last month, citing unverified citizenship or immigration documentation and suspected improper enrollments, and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said the enrollees were treated as "phantoms" because officials believe most either do not exist or were unaware they had coverage. CMS said it would bar 569 brokers it accused of submitting "statistically implausible rates of plan year 2026 applications" without necessary applicant information such as a Social Security number.
Vance described the canceled group as "a mix of both phantom people, but also real people who just don't meet the eligibility requirements," including some he said were signed up by brokers without their knowledge. CMS said it would further verify between 419,000 and 450,000 more people to confirm they are legal US residents meeting income thresholds.
Brokers face freeze
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said the administration is using an emergency-style rulemaking process to impose an immediate, industry-wide freeze on new Obamacare broker registrations, bypassing the usual advance notice-and-comment period.
Oz called it a "temporary national moratorium" for six months, saying most fraud was concentrated among such agents, and CMS said brokers without a 2026 registration will be frozen out until February 1, 2027.
The Hill said the administration is also putting a six-month moratorium on all new brokers and agents who sign up enrollees for health insurance, and it said CMS has terminated more than 200 noncompliant agents and brokers since January 2026.
The Hill quoted Vance saying, "This is not about cutting off anybody from their benefits. It’s about cutting off fraudsters from stealing from these programs," while the same source described Vance’s view that the 750,000 people are people who "feel confident" either do not know they are enrolled, are not using the program at all, are unaware of it, or are potentially phantom people.
U.S. News & World Report reported that CMS said unauthorized Obamacare enrollments could cost up to $6.6 billion in improper federal spending for the 2026 plan year.
Savings and political fight
The Boston Globe reported that Vance and other Trump administration officials said Tuesday they plan to remove 760,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees from public healthcare exchanges, alleging the individuals were fraudulently enrolled in the program or simply do not exist.
Vance said the discovery and canceled subsidy payments for hundreds of thousands of people from the exchanges would result in $2.2 billion in cost savings, and the Boston Globe said Vance estimated that removing the Obamacare enrollees would save the government $2.2 billion.
The Hill said Democrats and the Biden administration argued the safeguards were not strong enough when enrollment grew sharply during the Biden administration, and it said Protect Our Care called the action a "smokescreen" designed to kick more eligible people off their coverage.
The Hill quoted Protect Our Care president Brad Woodhouse saying, "Vance’s task force won’t accomplish that. It’s a smokescreen for an administration whose sole mission is to make it harder to get and stay covered but to shower billionaires with tax breaks instead," as the article described the group’s criticism of the crackdown.
U.S. News & World Report reported that CMS said more than 1 million enrollees received coverage without providing a Social Security number, while Reuters reported that the agency said it would cancel 315,000 "unauthorized enrollments" covering that population and return $2.2 billion in taxpayer funds from premium subsidies.