10/07/2026
Fraud Alert!
As part of the ongoing efforts to Eliminate Fraud in the healthcare system and protect taxpayer dollars, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking aggressive, sweeping actions within the Federal Marketplace — canceling approximately 315,000 unauthorized enrollments covering more than 760,000 individuals, which is expected to result in a return of roughly $2.2 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies.
We are shutting down unauthorized Marketplace enrollments and returning approximately $2.2 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “CMS is strengthening safeguards, pursuing bad actors, and holding agents and brokers accountable when they break the rules.”
CMS data also show that agents and brokers who first registered for the 2026 plan year represent a small fraction of all agent- and broker-assisted enrollments but account for a disproportionate share of unauthorized enrollments and other high-risk activity in the Marketplace. To address this risk, CMS is releasing an Interim Final Rule announcing a temporary moratorium on new registration for the 2027 plan year for agents and brokers without an active Exchange Agreement for 2026.
CMS is also strengthening program integrity protections by:
• Requiring all existing agents and brokers to re-identity proof through Login.gov or ID.me;
• Requiring applications involving an agent or broker to include SSN or immigration document numbers that CMS can verify for all non-newborn applicants through all application channels;
• Updating the system to prevent agents and brokers from being added to applications that consumers should be completing on their own through HealthCare.gov; and
• Requiring electronic consumer authorization before an agent or broker can act on a consumer’s application or enrollment.
