Thirteen Senate Democrats are demanding answers from the largest ACA marketplace insurers about their involvement in recent coverage terminations that cut more than 760,000 people from their health plans.
The Oct. 26 letters, led by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., accuse the insurers of “quietly colluding” with the Trump administration on what the lawmakers said was an improper process to terminate qualified enrollees without sufficient notice or compliance with consumer protections.
“Aligning with Republicans and their so-called ‘war on fraud,’ insurance companies chose to participate in a collaborative effort with the Trump administration to inject yet more chaos and damage into the ACA Marketplace,” the senators wrote. “This year, nearly 3 million people have lost coverage while millions more are paying sky-high premiums and higher deductibles for insurance that covers less.”
The letters were sent to leadership at UnitedHealthcare, AmeriHealth Caritas, Centene, Cigna, Elevance, Florida Blue, Health Care Service Corporation, Imperial Insurance Companies, Oscar and Molina.
CMS announced Sept. 22 that it had canceled roughly 315,000 plan year 2026 policies covering more than 760,000 individuals, retroactive to Aug. 31. The agency said the enrollments were unauthorized, enrolled through brokers without verified citizenship or immigration documentation, and that insurers could not identify claims or reach the enrollees.
According to the senators’ letters, the insurers were asked by CMS to send unsolicited communications asking enrollees to verify their Social Security numbers. Those who did not respond were labeled “phantom enrollees” and had their coverage terminated. CMS has since reinstated coverage for some enrollees whose terminations were found to be improper, though it is unclear how many.
The senators allege the process did not follow the established rules governing mid-year eligibility redeterminations, noting that CMS didn’t update federal exchange enrollment rules to reflect the process until Oct. 1, more than a month after the terminations were carried out.
By Nov. 6, the senators are asking the insurers to provide information that includes whether they assessed the likelihood that the administration would use the information to target eligible enrollees, whether the terminations complied with federal rules, and how many children were included on the lists returned to CMS.
The senators also drew a contrast with insurers’ behavior last year, when Democratic lawmakers repeatedly asked the industry to notify their enrollees about premium increases ahead of open enrollment. Insurers declined, citing the cost and complexity of mid-year outreach.
“Enrollee communications were initiated within weeks, if not days, in response to this request from Republicans. Please explain this disparity,” the letters said.
“Health plans continue to support policies that ensure eligible Americans can access affordable coverage options through the individual market while supporting strong program integrity measures to safeguard consumers and taxpayers,” a spokesperson for insurer trade group AHIP told Becker’s.
ACA individual market enrollment has dropped 18% from June 2025 to June 2026, or by about 4.6 million people, according to a KFF analysis. The expiration of enhanced tax credits at the start of this year has also reshaped the marketplace and plan affordability.
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