Sponsors
The bill increases consumer control and program integrity—reducing improper subsidies and fraud risk—while imposing implementation costs and raising the risk of enrollment delays or erroneous flags for some applicants during rollout.
Consumers (individuals and small employers) gain clearer control over who can enroll them because agent- or broker-assisted enrollments will require the enrollee's direct consent via a federal mechanism.
Taxpayers may face fewer improper or duplicative premium tax credit payments, reducing waste and downward pressure on premiums and lowering reconciliation burdens.
State Exchanges and the federal Exchange process will have stronger program integrity and transparency—combining SSN-matching and a Secretary-controlled consent process to reduce fraud and unauthorized enrollments.
State Exchanges, HHS, and related systems will incur one-time IT and administrative costs and burdens to implement SSN-matching and a federal consent mechanism, potentially diverting resources from other outreach or assistance.
Individuals (including uninsured applicants) risk false SSN matches or being incorrectly flagged under the new matching process, which can cause enrollment delays or temporary loss/delay of advance premium tax credits while issues are resolved.
Consumers seeking agent- or broker-assisted enrollment may face slower or more complicated sign-up processes because requiring direct consent and disallowing agent attestations can delay enrollments during open or special enrollment periods.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Requires Exchanges to detect duplicate SSNs to block duplicate APTC payments and requires an HHS-run consent mechanism for agent/broker-assisted enrollments (effective 2027 plan year).
Introduced March 9, 2026 by Tom Barrett · Last progress March 9, 2026
Requires health insurance Exchanges to check whether an applicant’s Social Security number matches any existing enrollee for the same coverage period and to stop duplicate advance premium tax credit payments. Also requires HHS to operate a Secretary-controlled, electronic consent mechanism for any agent- or broker-assisted enrollments in individual and small-group market plans, and bans relying on an agent or broker’s attestation as proof of consumer consent for plan years beginning January 1, 2027. The bill places near-term operational duties on the Department of Health and Human Services and Exchanges (implemented within 60 days for SSN matching) and changes how agent/broker-assisted enrollments are effectuated (consent mechanism in effect for 2027 plan years). It focuses on preventing duplicate premium tax credit payments and tightening consumer consent verification for broker/agent-assisted enrollments.