CMS is canceling about 750,000 Marketplace enrollments. Here's how to check that yours is real.

Published September 23, 2026. Reviewed September 26, 2026. By Roger Hulbert, Legacy Health Consultants.

On Tuesday, September 22, 2026, the White House and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that CMS is canceling roughly 750,000 HealthCare.gov enrollments it has classified as unauthorized, fraudulent or ineligible, worth an estimated $2.2 billion in subsidy payments. Another 419,000 or so enrollees are being placed in an additional verification queue for identity, lawful presence or income. Those figures are from the announcement as reported by The Hill and WJLA the same day.

What CMS says triggered a cancellation

According to the announcement, the canceled enrollments met one or more of these criteria: no claims ever filed on the plan, no Social Security number on file, no response to CMS outreach, an offer of employer coverage that made the person ineligible for subsidies, or income above the subsidy limit.

The agent side of the story

This enforcement is aimed at agents and brokers, not at people who knowingly bought a plan. CMS reports more than 200 agent and broker terminations since January 2026, with hundreds more notices pending, and one group of 40 agents tied to about 50,000 enrollments (WJLA, IJR, September 22). CMS also published an interim final rule (CMS-9872-IFC, 91 FR 60317, September 23, 2026) that freezes new agent and broker registrations for HealthCare.gov plan year 2027 through February 1, 2027. Agents who already hold a plan year 2026 agreement, as we do, are not affected and complete 2027 training as usual.

Iowa uses HealthCare.gov, so all of this applies here. About three-quarters of 2026 HealthCare.gov plan selections had an agent or broker involved (CMS reports 78% for states using the federal Marketplace). Most of those were legitimate. The problem CMS is describing is a person being enrolled, or switched between plans, without their knowledge.

How to confirm your enrollment is legitimate

1. Log in to your own HealthCare.gov account. If you never created one, or someone else created it for you and you don't have the password, that's your first flag. You can reset access through HealthCare.gov or by calling the Marketplace Call Center at 1-800-318-2596.
2. Look at the application on file. Check that the household members, the income, and the plan match what you actually chose. An income figure you don't recognize is the most common sign of an enrollment done for the subsidy rather than for you.
3. Ask who the agent of record is. The Call Center can tell you which agent, if any, is attached to your application. If you don't recognize the name, say so. You can have them removed and add an agent you've actually spoken with.
4. Read any letter from the Marketplace. If you're in the verification queue, the letter names what's needed and the deadline. Missing it ends the coverage. Bring the letter to us and we'll help you respond.
5. Check your mail from the insurer. An ID card or a premium notice from a company you never chose means someone enrolled you. Call the Marketplace, then call us.

There's a policy debate about whether this crackdown goes too far or not far enough, and you'll hear both sides. Our job isn't to referee it. It's to make sure every enrollment we touch is one you chose, understood and can prove.