CMS places temporary moratorium on new ACA agent registrations

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued an interim final rule with comment period placing a temporary moratorium on new agent and broker registrations for the federally facilitated Affordable Care Act exchanges for the 2027 plan year.

This temporary moratorium does not affect registrations on the state-based exchanges.

“This moratorium will be in place while CMS implements enhanced program-integrity safeguards designed to prevent instances of noncompliance and fraud, waste and abuse perpetrated by agents and brokers, including unauthorized enrollment activity, misuse of consumer personally identifiable information, and other conduct that does not comply with exchange standards and threatens consumers and the integrity of the federally facilitated exchanges,” CMS said in a statement accompanying the interim final rule.

CMS said a temporary, prospective pause on new agent registrations allows the agency to enhance identity-verification, authentication, monitoring and other program-integrity controls before additional agent and broker entrants begin assisting consumers.

The agency further said it has “observed a substantial increase in allegations and confirmed instances of unauthorized enrollments, unauthorized plan switching, and other noncompliant practices involving newly registered agents and brokers on the federally-facilitated exchanges.”

CMS issued final terminations to 160 agents and brokers for noncompliant behavior in Plan Year 2026, with 11% of them being agents and brokers newly registered in 2026. In July and August 2026, CMS issued 569 Notices of Intent to Terminate Exchange agreements to agents and brokers that submitted statistically implausible rates of Plan Year 2026 applications without identifying applicant information, such as a Social Security Number.

On Aug. 31, CMS cancelled approximately 315,000 Plan Year 2026 policies covering more than 760,000 individuals that were enrolled with agent or broker assistance without verified citizenship or immigration documentation and for whom issuers were unable to identify claims or establish consumer contact.

Agent organizations react

Health agent organizations are mobilizing against the moratorium before open enrollment begins on Nov. 1.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors issued a statement today, stating that the organization “strongly opposes any proposal that would place a moratorium on new agent and broker registrations for ACA Marketplace plans for Plan Year 2027.”

NAIFA said fully supports eliminating fraud where it exists in the ACA marketplace. “Bad actors harm consumers, undermine trust in the system, and reflect poorly on the vast majority of licensed professionals who work with integrity every day. However, a moratorium on new agents and brokers is a drastic, ill-advised step that would not effectively achieve that goal. It penalizes the many for the actions of a few and does little to stop those already engaged in misconduct.”

Rather than adopting a sweeping moratorium, NAIFA encourages CMS to pursue a more targeted and deliberate approach that goes after bad actors directly while keeping qualified professionals in the marketplace. To this end, the association asks CMS to consider how enrollment processes and approvals differ between the Medicare and ACA markets. The Medicare enrollment framework has distinct safeguards involving carrier-based certification and appointments, testing and training, and documentation requirements, which can offer a more effective and less disruptive way to protect ACA consumers.

In a statement, the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals said that while the organization “supports efforts to prevent fraud and unauthorized enrollments, a blanket moratorium is the wrong approach.

“Fraud should be stopped at its source, not by restricting legitimate, licensed professionals from helping consumers access and navigate their health coverage,” the NABIP statement continued.

NABIP said the appropriate response to fraud and unauthorized enrollment is to target the individuals and entities responsible for fraudulent activity and strengthen the technology and safeguards needed to prevent it.

“Stopping new agents from entering the marketplace sends the wrong message to our industry,” said Ronnell Nolan, president and CEO of Health Agents for America. “It also has real financial consequences. Agencies across the country have already invested tremendous amounts of money recruiting, hiring, training, licensing, and preparing new agents for the 2027 enrollment season. These are legitimate businesses and legitimate agents preparing to serve consumers. They should not become collateral damage in the fight against fraud.”

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Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected].