More than 760,000 people were removed from the Affordable Care Act marketplace in a move the Trump administration described as a crackdown on fraudulent enrollments, officials said on Tuesday. The action is projected to save roughly $2.2 billion in federal subsidies.
Vice President J.D. Vance, who heads the White House anti‑fraud task force, explained that the targeted enrollees include both phantom individuals and real people who do not meet eligibility requirements. He also noted that some people were unknowingly enrolled by insurance agents and brokers, and that 569 participants faced suspension from the program.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, led by Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, announced a six‑month, temporary national moratorium on new broker applications for the marketplace, citing the role of agents in the alleged fraud.
As of February, about 19.2 million Americans were covered by the marketplace. That figure represented a 13 percent annual decline, following the expiration of pandemic‑era enhanced premium tax credits that had lowered policy costs. The drop in enrollment has been attributed to the resulting steep increases in premiums.
The purge is one of the most extensive since the Trump administration began targeting alleged fraud in federal programs last year. Trump has long opposed the Affordable Care Act, repeatedly promising to repeal and replace it, but his efforts were halted by a 2017 vote from Senator John McCain and by multiple Supreme Court rulings that preserved key provisions of the law.
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