Trump admin removes 760K ObamaCare enrollees amid affordability crisis

The latest healthcare decision from the Trump administration is putting the affordability crisis right back in the spotlight.

Vice President Vance announced that the administration is removing about 760,000 people from Affordable Care Act coverage , saying they were either “phantom” enrollees or otherwise ineligible.

“We are stopping ObamaCare enrollment for about 760,000 people who we believe are fraudulently enrolled in the program,” Vance said.

Dr. Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, backed him up, saying: “760,000 people, we call them phantoms, because we believe these people don’t exist or don’t know they have coverage. We believe this because we have been writing them, telexing them, walking to them, FedExing them, whatever we believe we could possibly do to get in touch with them. They won’t answer and they have never filed a claim.”

So, you pay for insurance, stay healthy enough not to immediately need it and somehow that makes you suspicious? Fraud in government healthcare programs is a legitimate issue. But not using your insurance is not the same thing as not needing insurance.

People buy insurance precisely because they may go months, or yes, sometimes years, without filing a claim.

ACA enrollment has already fallen substantially in 2026: 19.2 million people signed up for Marketplace coverage this year, down from 21.8 million in 2025. KFF attributes the decline, in part, to the expiration of ACA tax credits, which dramatically raised costs for many consumers.

So, Americans are already dealing with higher healthcare costs, and the administration thinks the best next step is to simultaneously remove hundreds of thousands of ACA enrollees from access to care?

Cutting access from health programs for folks whose premiums have already skyrocketed this year is insane, especially a few weeks before the midterm elections. The timing will make the affordability issue in America worse. Inflation is high, everyday essentials like gas cost more, healthcare costs are higher than a year ago and somehow this is a solution.

And yes, we should want fraud rooted out of Medicare, Medicaid and ACA programs, especially when taxpayer dollars are involved, but there is a huge issue with consistency among the Trump administration surrounding healthcare fraud.

At least 21 people convicted of healthcare fraud received a pardon or commutation from Donald Trump so far. Philip Esformes, convicted in a massive $1.3 billion Medicare and Medicaid fraud case, had his 20-year prison sentence commuted. Judith Negron, convicted of money laundering and healthcare fraud in the hundreds of millions also received a commutation. Justice Department records show both still had restitution obligations after the commutations and now they will never pay that money back.

At the same time, the administration has failed to lay out any realistic healthcare solution. In January, Trump unveiled the “Great Healthcare Plan,” which proposed an idea of lowering health insurance premiums but provided no framework on how, then punted the hard work of coming up with specific legislation to Congress, something that has yet to happen eight months later.

Lindsey Granger is a NewsNation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.