JD Vance Announces 760,000 Obamacare Enrollees Removed as Administration Targets Suspected Fraud

Vice President JD Vance announced Tuesday that the Trump administration has removed roughly 760,000 people from Affordable Care Act health plans as part of a sweeping crackdown on suspected improper or fraudulent enrollment. The administration says the canceled subsidies are expected to save taxpayers approximately $2.2 billion.

Vance, who leads the administration’s government-wide anti-fraud task force, said officials believe many of the affected individuals were improperly enrolled, did not know they had coverage or potentially did not exist. Federal officials said the removals also involved cases where citizenship or immigration documentation could not be verified.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the action involved approximately 315,000 individual health plans covering about 760,000 people. That distinction is significant because a single ACA policy can provide coverage for multiple members of a household.

Another group of enrollees remains under additional scrutiny. Administration officials said those cases showed potential eligibility problems but were not considered as clear-cut as the enrollments already canceled, giving those individuals additional opportunities to provide documentation establishing their eligibility.

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said officials made repeated attempts to contact people whose coverage was being questioned. He said many had never filed an insurance claim and did not respond to government attempts to verify their enrollment or eligibility.

The administration is also targeting insurance brokers and agents suspected of submitting improper applications. CMS said it will bar 569 brokers after identifying what it described as statistically implausible application patterns, including applications that lacked information such as Social Security numbers.

CMS additionally imposed a temporary freeze on new broker registrations through February 2027. The agency says unauthorized enrollments and improper premium tax credits have become significant concerns and estimates the federal government could face billions of dollars in improper costs during the 2026 plan year without additional safeguards.

The crackdown comes as the Affordable Care Act exchanges have experienced major changes in enrollment and costs. Millions of Americans dropped coverage this year following rising medical expenses and the expiration of enhanced COVID-era subsidies that had reduced premiums for many participants.

The administration says the latest removals are intended to ensure that federal health insurance subsidies go only to people who qualify for them. Vance said the government will continue reviewing federal programs as part of a broader effort to identify fraud and improper spending.

The administration’s fraud initiative has already expanded beyond the ACA into Medicare and Medicaid. The latest action represents one of its largest moves involving Obamacare enrollment, with additional eligibility reviews and enforcement against brokers still underway.