\n A White House task force will remove hundreds of thousands of enrollees from Affordable Care Act coverage, citing widespread fraud, Vice President JD Vance announced Tuesday alongside Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.\n <\/p>\n
\n The action will save $2.2 billion in improperly paid federal subsidies, Vance said at a news conference.\n <\/p>\n
\n Some of these more than 760,000 people are so-called phantom enrollees who don\u2019t exist, while others may have been enrolled without their knowledge, Oz said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Trump administration will also suspend brokers and agents involved in improperly signing up enrollees and place a six-month moratorium on new brokers and agents, he added. The Biden administration in 2024 also suspended hundreds of brokers and agents for suspected fraud, which ramped up after federal subsidies were made more generous in 2021.\n <\/p>\n
\n Another 419,000 people will be subject to additional verification, including making sure they meet the income thresholds and are legal residents.\n <\/p>\n
\n The latest move comes as Republicans are trying to show<\/a> they are cracking down on healthcare fraud, including in Medicaid and Medicare, ahead of the midterm elections in November. The action will save taxpayers money, strengthen the federal health insurance programs and ensure that those who need health coverage have access to it, GOP officials argue.\n <\/p>\n \n The steeply rising cost<\/a> of healthcare is among voters\u2019 top concerns, and Democrats are highlighting their opponents\u2019 support of sweeping cuts to Medicaid as part of President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d and the expiration<\/a> of the enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies<\/a> this year. The two measures are expected to result in millions of people losing their coverage in coming years.\n <\/p>\n \n Moreover, healthcare premiums for Obamacare, employer-based coverage and Medicare soared for 2026 and are expected to jump again for the coming year \u2014 adding to Americans\u2019 affordability woes.\n <\/p>\n \n Some 19.2 million people were enrolled in Affordable Care Act coverage as of February, according to the latest data from the Department of Health and Human Services \u2014 down from 21.8 million people the same period the year before. Enrollment nearly doubled after the enhanced subsidies were launched.\n <\/p>\n \n As part of the enhancement, lower-income Americans could sign up for coverage with no premiums and higher-income ones became eligible for assistance for the first time.\n <\/p>\n \n Criminals, largely brokers and agents, took advantage of this enhanced assistance and began enrolling enrollees and switching them to different plans without their knowledge. Some were unaware of the changes.\n <\/p>\n \n The Biden administration suspended 850 brokers and agents suspected of fraud in 2024, though Trump officials later quietly reinstated several hundred of them.\n <\/p>\n \n The Affordable Care Act has long been a target for Trump, who unsuccessfully sought for years to repeal it and then to weaken it.\n <\/p>\n \n One of the president\u2019s healthcare advisors from his first administration, Brian Blase, has been releasing reports about widespread enrollment fraud in the Affordable Care Act. His think tank, Paragon Health Institute, has pointed out that nearly 12 million policyholders had no medical claims in 2024, suggesting these were \u201cphantom enrollees.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Oz echoed this argument, saying 35% of enrollees never used the program \u2014 about twice the traditional rate of those with insurance. Oz also noted that 1.1 million enrollees did not have Social Security numbers on file. Going forward, all applicants must include their Social Security numbers, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is adding more guardrails for brokers and agents seeking to enroll people, he said.\n <\/p>\n