Sept 22 (Reuters) – The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said on Tuesday it canceled 315,000 Obamacare health plans covering about 760,000 people last month, citing unverified citizenship or immigration documentation and suspected improper enrollments.
The move, disclosed in rule-making documents published in the US Federal Register, comes as the agency says it will bar some 569 brokers who it says “submitted statistically implausible rates of plan year 2026 applications” that did not include applicant information, such as a social security number.
The plans, created by Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, offer subsidies based on income. Republican President Donald Trump sought unsuccessfully in his first term to overturn the law and has proposed changes that would make the plans less comprehensive.
The administration is using an emergency-style rule-making process to impose an immediate, industry-wide freeze on new Obamacare broker registrations, bypassing the usual advance notice-and-comment period.
CMS said some brokers and agents have allegedly enrolled people without genuine consent, changed people’s plans without permission, used inaccurate information, or created questionable applications to receive commissions.
Such activity can trigger improper federal premium-tax-credit payments and can leave consumers with surprise coverage changes, medical-bill problems, or tax issues, CMS said.
The health agency said brokers who do not have a registration for 2026 will face the effects of the freeze until February 1, 2027.
CMS said unauthorized enrollments through these plans could result in up to $6.6 billion in improper federal spending for the 2026 plan year.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru, Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Bill Berkrot)
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