The Trump administration canceled Obamacare coverage on Tuesday for approximately 750,000 people, whom they accuse of having fraudulently enrolled or being "ghost" beneficiaries who either do not exist or were unaware of having health insurance.
Vice President JD Vance and the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Mehmet Oz, jointly announced the decision in a press conference, framing it as part of a broader campaign against fraud in federal healthcare programs.
The administration did not provide details about who lost coverage or how they were notified.
Vance assured that the cuts will represent a savings of 2.2 billion dollars for taxpayers and was direct about the justification:
"These programs are commendable, they are important, but they will not exist unless we put an end to fraud."
Oz explained that the removed affiliates met a combination of suspicious criteria:
- they had been registered with the help of a broker.
- They never filed a medical claim.
- they had their cousin fully covered by federal tax credits.
- they lacked a Social Security number or verifiable immigration documents by the CMS.
"We call them ghosts because we believe that most of them do not exist or had no idea they had coverage. We believe this because we have written to them, sent telegrams, sent packages via FedEx, everything we can do to contact them. They do not respond," Oz stated.
The argument of fraud and its critics
Oz drew a direct line between the increase in enrollment during the pandemic and what he describes as a relaxation of controls under the Biden administration.
"Obamacare had 10 million enrollees between 2015 and 2020. During COVID, it rose to 22 million. The controls were weakened, and the previous administration decided not to enforce them," noted Mehmet Oz.
In an interview with NBC News in March 2026, Oz had already claimed that between four and five million of the increase in registrations was driven by fraud, particularly by brokers who enrolled people without their knowledge to collect commissions.
However, experts question both the extent of the fraud and the methods used to combat it.
Cynthia Cox, director of the ACA program at KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization, warned:
"It is entirely possible that many of these individuals were registered without their knowledge. It is also entirely possible that many were legitimately registered and simply did not respond in time."
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2025 that 2.3 million people were receiving enhanced tax credits improperly, a figure significantly lower than the four or five million cited by Oz.
More than 400,000 people under additional investigation
Vance announced that the administration is investigating another 419,000 people who may be improperly enrolled, although in this case, they will be given the opportunity to clarify their situation.
"They had something in their history that was a bit different from the case of 100% fraud. We are giving them another chance," Oz explained.
Decline in registrations and expired subsidies
The announcement comes at a time of profound transformation in the insurance market.
During the Biden administration, enrollment in the ACA grew from 11 million to a record 24 million, driven by enhanced tax credits during the pandemic.
That trend reversed when those subsidies expired on January 1, 2026, which led to millions of Americans losing their health insurance or facing skyrocketing premiums.
Analysts point out that the main reason for this decline is not the elimination of fraud, but rather the increase in premiums.
In mid-September, Trump also announced $500 refunds for nearly one million members who purchased their insurance without receiving subsidies, with distribution scheduled to begin in October across 30 states.
Filed under: