The Trump administration has removed Affordable Care Act subsidies for 189,000 people it says were improperly enrolled, including duplicate Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries and roughly 11,000 deceased individuals. CMS officials said the move will save $738 million in improper payments this year, and they plan to cut another 3,500 people by the end of the month.
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said no one is losing health insurance coverage as a result, calling the effort a money saver. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said some cases begin with an error while others reveal deliberate abuse. Duplicate enrollees and estates of deceased enrollees have 30 days to respond before their subsidies and plans are canceled.
The action is the latest in a broader crackdown on the ACA exchanges. Last year, the administration revoked subsidies from about 551,000 enrollees it said were also on Medicaid, and late last month it said it was terminating coverage for more than 760,000 people deemed unauthorized. The moves come after Republicans allowed enhanced ACA subsidies to lapse, causing average premiums to rise and prompting about 1 in 10 enrollees to drop coverage, according to KFF.