After Booting 760K People From ACA Plans, Trump Administration Has Added Some Back

Late last month, the Trump administration announced that it had cut 760,000 people from the Affordable Care Act rolls, claiming fraud and improper enrollments and touting billions in potential taxpayer savings. Not all of those kicked off were fraudulently enrolled, KFF Health News has learned. Insurance industry sources said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has reinstated a small number of people whose coverage should not have been canceled. More could follow in the coming weeks if enrollees discover they are uninsured when they go to use their coverage. Still, the sweep was long overdue, say supporters such as Brian Blase, whose Paragon Health Institute has supplied many of the sometimes controversial findings cited by those who allege widespread enrollment fraud in the ACA. But other policy experts question how many legitimate consumers were caught in the dragnet, perhaps because they failed to open a letter from their insurer or answer a phone call. Questions continue to swirl, even as a second phase of the anti-fraud effort is underway. An additional 419,000 sign-ups are being scrutinized. Insurers must let CMS know how many of those enrollees don’t respond to ...