# CMS Pauses New Agent and Broker Registrations for Plan Year 2027: Who Is Affected

> An HHS interim final rule lets CMS pause new agent and broker registrations on the federal Exchange platform. This explainer covers who the Plan Year 2027 moratorium reaches, who it does not, and when it ends.

AMDana Desk · 2026-10-13 · https://blog.amdana.app/cms-pauses-new-agent-and-broker-registrations-for-plan-year-2027-who-is-affected

A rule published by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on September 23, 2026, pauses registration for certain insurance agents and brokers seeking to help consumers enroll through the federal Exchange platform for Plan Year 2027 [2]. Whether a given agent or broker is affected depends on two things. The first is whether it already holds a Plan Year 2026 Exchange agreement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The second is which kind of Exchange is involved [2].

## What the rule does

The rule appears in the Federal Register as document 2026-19493 [2]. It is an interim final rule with comment period (IFC) [2]. In this case, that means HHS issued the rule on an interim final basis without prior notice and comment, while still inviting public comment after publication [2].

The rule codifies HHS authority to impose a temporary moratorium, meaning a time-limited pause, on agent and broker registration [2]. The pause applies to agents and brokers who meet both of these conditions [2]:

- They lack a current Plan Year registration with the Federally-facilitated Exchanges at the time the moratorium takes effect [2].
- They are seeking to enter Exchange agreements with CMS to help consumers enroll [2].

In the same document, CMS gives notice that it is using this authority immediately, on behalf of HHS, for Plan Year 2027 [2]. HHS found good cause for the rule to take effect immediately upon publication [2].

## Which Exchanges are covered

The rule uses "Federally-facilitated Exchanges" as a collective term for two arrangements [2]:

- The Federally-facilitated Exchange (FFE) itself [2].
- State-based Exchanges that use the Federal platform (SBE-FPs) [2].

The moratorium does not affect registrations on State-based Exchanges (SBEs) [2]. Because the pause applies to the FFE and SBE-FPs but not to SBEs, the Exchange type in each state determines whether the moratorium is relevant there [2]. The rule summary does not list which states fall into each category [2].

## Which agents and brokers are affected

The summary sets out the scope of the Plan Year 2027 moratorium as follows [2]:

- **Affected:** agents and brokers that do not have Plan Year 2026 Exchange agreements with the Federally-facilitated Exchanges and are seeking agreements with CMS to assist consumers with Plan Year 2027 enrollment [2].
- **Effect:** these agents and brokers cannot complete registration with the Federally-facilitated Exchanges for Plan Year 2027 until the moratorium ends on February 1, 2027 [2].
- **Outside the stated scope:** agents and brokers that already hold Plan Year 2026 agreements, because the moratorium is defined by the absence of such an agreement [2].
- **Not affected:** registrations on SBEs [2].

## Why HHS says it acted

CMS states that the moratorium will stay in place while it implements enhanced program-integrity safeguards [2]. According to the summary, these safeguards are designed to prevent noncompliance and fraud, waste and abuse perpetrated by agents and brokers [2].

The summary names the agent and broker conduct the safeguards target [2]:

- Unauthorized enrollment activity [2].
- Misuse of consumer personally identifiable information (PII) [2].
- Other conduct that does not comply with Exchange standards and threatens consumers and the integrity of the Federally-facilitated Exchanges [2].

HHS cited good cause under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to waive prior notice and comment [2]. It stated that advance notice would be contrary to the public interest and impracticable [2]. The summary refers readers to the body of the rule for the full reasoning [2].

## Practical points for organizations that work with agents and brokers

- **Confirm agreement status.** Check whether each agent or broker involved holds a Plan Year 2026 agreement with CMS, because that status determines whether they can register on the federal platform for Plan Year 2027 while the pause lasts [2].
- **Map each state to its Exchange type.** Identify whether each state uses the FFE, an SBE-FP or an SBE, because SBE registrations are outside the moratorium [2].
- **Plan around February 1, 2027.** That is the stated end date; the summary does not say how this date relates to the Plan Year 2027 enrollment calendar, so enrollment timing needs checking against separate CMS guidance [2].
- **Consider commenting.** HHS says it will consider public comments in deciding whether to retain, modify or rescind the codified authority, although the summary does not state a comment deadline [2].

## What the summary leaves open

This explainer relies on the Federal Register summary of the rule, not its full text [2]. Several points that matter for operational planning are not addressed there [2]:

- What the enhanced program-integrity safeguards will consist of [2].
- How agents and brokers will be notified when registration reopens [2].
- The deadline for public comment [2].

The codified authority is written in terms of "a current Plan Year registration" rather than Plan Year 2027 alone [2]. Read on its face, the authority is therefore not limited to this one moratorium, although the summary describes only the Plan Year 2027 pause as being imposed now [2]. Whether HHS keeps that authority depends in part on the comments it receives [2].

## Limitations

The analysis here rests on a single primary source, the published summary of an interim final rule, and does not draw on the full regulatory text, its impact analysis, or later CMS guidance [2]. Because the rule took effect on publication and remains open to comment, HHS may still modify or rescind the codified authority [2].

## References

2. federalregister.gov. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Temporary Moratoria on Certain Agent and Broker Registration To Participate in the Exchanges. Accessed October 13, 2026. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/23/2026-19493/patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act-temporary-moratoria-on-certain-agent-and-broker