The short answer
If you buy your own health insurance through HealthCare.gov, take five minutes this week to log in and confirm your plan is still active. Then open every letter, email or text from your insurance company or the Marketplace, especially any that ask you to verify your information. That advice matters today because a group of U.S. senators sent letters to about a dozen Marketplace insurers asking how 760,000 people lost their coverage in September, Fierce Healthcare reported on October 27.
What happened
CMS, the federal agency that runs HealthCare.gov, says it canceled about 315,000 enrollments covering more than 760,000 people on August 31, 2026. The agency says those enrollments were confirmed as unauthorized after a review with insurance companies. You can read the details on the CMS anti-fraud fact sheet.
CMS also says it will keep working with insurers to find and cancel more enrollments it confirms as unauthorized.
Why senators are asking questions
The senators argue the cancellations happened outside the normal rules for changing coverage in the middle of the year. According to Fierce Healthcare, their letters say some insurers contacted members and asked them to verify Social Security numbers. People who didn't respond were then passed along to CMS. The senators asked the insurers to answer their questions by November 6.
I'm not here to take sides on the politics. I care about one thing. If you're a real person with a real plan, I don't want a missed letter to cost you your coverage.
Why this hits self-employed folks
When you work for yourself, nobody in HR is watching your benefits for you. Mail from your insurer can get buried under invoices and client emails. A notice that looks like junk might be the one that matters.
An analyst quoted by NPR in September said people got about 30 days to respond to outreach before plans were canceled. She also said some real enrollees may have lost coverage because they simply missed a notice.
What I'd do this week
Log in to your HealthCare.gov account and check that your plan shows as active. Then log in to your insurance company's site or app and make sure your coverage and payments look right.
If you get a request to verify your identity or information, answer it before the deadline. If something looks off, call the number on your insurance card or the Marketplace directly. Don't use a phone number from a message you weren't expecting.
Open Enrollment for 2027 starts November 1, according to the HealthCare.gov dates and deadlines page. That's a good moment to review your whole plan. I put the key Open Enrollment dates for self-employed people in one place. And if your 2027 renewal letters just showed up, my post on what to do with your Marketplace renewal letters walks through them.
FAQ
How do I know if my Marketplace plan was canceled?
Log in to your HealthCare.gov account and check your plan status. You can also log in to your insurance company's site or call the number on your insurance card.
Who lost coverage in the September cancellations?
CMS says it canceled about 315,000 enrollments covering more than 760,000 people that it confirmed as unauthorized. It hasn't shared a public list of who was affected.
What should I do if my insurer asks me to verify my information?
Respond before the deadline. To be safe, call the number on your insurance card or contact the Marketplace directly instead of using a number from an unexpected message.
What are the senators asking insurers?
According to Fierce Healthcare, they asked when insurers were first contacted by CMS about the cancellations and how they chose which enrollments to cancel. They asked for answers by November 6.
When can I make changes for 2027?
HealthCare.gov says Open Enrollment for 2027 coverage starts November 1.