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Vice President J.D. Vance and Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, jointly announced on Tuesday a plan by the Trump administration to cancel coverage for hundreds of thousands of individuals and families currently enrolled in insurance exchanges within the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The administration will cancel around 315,000 ACA health plans, which provide health insurance coverage for approximately 760,000 people in the U.S. Both Vance and Oz allege that the plan targets people whose applications neglected to include required information on their applications. Some enrollees may have been added to the ACA — sometimes known as Obamacare — without their knowledge, the pair also alleged.
Yet, many people may face removal simply because their insurance brokers, who helped them enroll, mistakenly did not place their Social Security numbers on submitted documents when they applied.
In response to that action, Vance and Oz announced that over 500 brokers have been warned they could be blocked from taking part in enrolling future participants. CMS also announced a moratorium on new brokers helping people to enroll.
“A blanket moratorium on new agent and broker registrations would punish legitimate professionals instead of targeting the bad actors responsible for fraud,” said Mychal Walker, president of the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals.
The bulk removal of individuals enrolled in the ACA exchanges is part of a so-called anti-fraud task force that Vance is leading.
“This is what the fraud task force is all about,” the vice president said at a press conference for the plan, claiming that billions of dollars will be saved by removing these individuals.
“If you care about the ACA, then you’ll want us to take the fraud out,” Oz also stated.
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Asked by a reporter whether some eligible individuals could be removed from the ACA rolls, Vance dismissed those concerns, claiming the White House had attempted to reach out to people by mail to prevent that outcome, stating that, “we send them FedEx letters, we go to their house.”
But the flippant attitude of the duo may cause some to question whether they are sincere. At one point, the image of a person alleged to have engaged in fraud was displayed during the presser. “He’s got a very punchable face,” Oz said.
In addition to the 760,000 who were announced to be removed from the ACA health coverage, the duo also said they were examining an additional 400,000 individuals they suspect are part of a larger fraud scheme.
The advocates of social programs have criticized the administration’s purported focus on rooting out fraud as a ruse for cutting benefits and programs that help Americans with lower incomes.
“Families need coverage they can afford and count on when they get sick. Vance’s task force won’t accomplish that,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care, adding that the vice president’s actions are “nothing more than a bullshit distraction — a political stunt designed to throw even more people off their coverage while pretending to save taxpayers’ money.”
In an op-ed for Truthout in May, Amy K. Matsui, vice president for child care and income security at the National Women’s Law Center, wrote, “These efforts are less about ensuring that public dollars are spent for their intended purpose and more about cutting basic needs programs altogether”:
It’s hard to seriously argue that this administration is concerned with rooting out fraud, considering the president has pardoned wealthy donors convicted of tax fraud, forgoing millions of dollars in restitution. So, I repeat: This is not really about responsible stewardship of public resources or making life more affordable for struggling families.
The announcement of the plan by the Trump administration on Tuesday comes as over 5 million Americans have already dropped their ACA enrollment this year after being unable to afford coverage. Prices have soared after the White House refused to renew subsidies for the program that were introduced during the coronavirus pandemic to help more people gain access to health care.
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