Young adults recently arrived immigrants, victims of identity theft, and some others may have difficulty setting up accounts on healthcare.gov.  That is because the federal marketplace uses real-time identity proofing techniques to protect consumers from unauthorized access to their personal information and to prevent fraud.  This online ID proofing relies on available credit history data, among other things, and some people will not have enough data for this to work.  As you begin to establish an account and enter your name and other basic information, healthcare.gov will ask you some “challenge” questions to verify your identity – for example, questions about your mortgage or your car loan, or past addresses, etc.

If healthcare.gov cannot generate challenge questions, you’ll be directed to call the Experian Help Desk.  Experian is the name of a credit reporting agency that contracts with the federal government to support the online ID proofing system for healthcare.gov.  The Experian Help Desk may be able to verify your identity over the phone.  If not, healthcare.gov will ask you to provide copies of documents proving your identity (such as your driver’s license, birth certificate, or others) and give instructions on how to upload the documents online.
You won’t be able to complete an online application on healthcare.gov until ID proofing is completed.  However, while your documents are being processed you can continue your application by phone, by contacting the Call Center at 1-800-318-2596, or by submitting a paper application.

If you have problems with ID proofing, contact a marketplace navigator for help.  Contact information for navigators and other assisters in healthcare.gov states is available at Find Local Help.  You can also find more information on healthcare.gov.

ID proofing in state-run marketplaces may operate somewhat differently.  Contact your state marketplace call center or a state marketplace navigator for more information.