It’s part of a larger crackdown on what the Trump administration says is fraud in the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

Brokers and agents are intermediaries to help people find and sign up for coverage. They largely work on commission from insurers, which creates a financial incentive to maximize enrollments.

Reports of broker misconduct in the ACA have been rampant in recent years, with instances of brokers switching enrollees from one plan to another without their permission or enrolling people in coverage without their consent.

Although new brokers comprise only 11% of all brokers, they accounted for 30% of all compliance-related terminations for the 2026 plan year, according to the CMS. They were also more likely to omit crucial details from applications, such as Social Security numbers, compared to established brokers, the agency said.

The CMS said it’s sent termination notices to more than 200 agents and brokers misusing the system since January.

The pause in new broker registrations, which is expected to last until Feb. 1 and applies to states using the HealthCare.gov platform, is meant to help the CMS improve safeguards and prevent an influx of bad actors in the exchanges.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have been beating the drum about ACA fraud, pointing to research from a conservative think tank that millions of ACA members generate zero claims, allowing insurers to pocket tens of millions of dollars in subsidies for the “phantom enrollees.”

Health policy experts and the insurance industry dispute the scope of that report, though other research also suggests fraud exists, albeit on a smaller scale .

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