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Do 6 million people receive Obamacare health insurance without knowing it?
Wisconsin Watch partners withΒ GigafactΒ to produce fact briefs β bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
No.
We found no documentation confirming a Sept. 29 statement by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., that 6 million people unknowingly received health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
Johnson cited a report by Paragon Health Institute, a think tank aligned with the Trump administration.Β
The report produced an estimate, not a count, claiming 6.4 million people were fraudulently enrolled in Obamacare. It said they were not income-eligible, including millions who βappear to be enrolled without their knowledge.β
The methodology was faulted by Blue Cross Blue Shield, the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals and the American Hospital Association.Β
Fraud is much more common among brokers misappropriating patientsβ identities than by patients, said KFF Obamacare program director Cynthia Cox and Justin Giovannelli of Georgetown Universityβs Center on Health Insurance Reforms.
Consumers are cautioned about offers to enroll them in Obamacare.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson: Email
- Paragon Health Institute: The Greater Obamacare Enrollment Fraud: The Fraud Got Much Worse in 2025
- Politico: The think tank driving health policy on Capitol Hill β and dividing Republicans
- Washington Post: As GOP eyes ACA cuts, a conservative group highlights rampant fraud
- Paragon Health Institute: Answering the Critics: How Paragon Discovered Enrollment Fraud in the ACA Exchanges
- Blue Cross Blue Shield: The facts about the individual marketplace
- National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals: Facts Over Fear: NABIP Rebukes Paragonβs Misleading ACA Claims
- American Hospital Association: Setting the Record Straight: Separating Fact from Fiction on Health Insurance Marketplace Fraud
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Consumer Fraud in the Health Insurance Marketplace
Do 6 million people receive Obamacare health insurance without knowing it? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
