As a number of large insurers ditch Affordable Care Act marketplaces in some states, the Obama administration is concerned that people will not buy a new insurance plan if their current plan is no longer available in the upcoming open enrollment period.

In response, the administration is hoping to steer customers into new plans. While customers will not be automatically enrolled, they will be getting notifications recommending a certain plan available in their marketplace that the administration hopes will make it easier for customers to sign up and less likely to forgo insurance.

Consumer advocates have mixed feelings about the plan. Some believe it will be a helpful way to guide customers into a plan similar to the one they had before.

"If you want as many people as possible to remain covered, what they are doing is a good idea," Judy Solomon of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think-tank, told the Associated Press. "They are doing the best they can with a difficult situation on this one."

Others, however, worry that it will be confusing and that customers will get the impression they are being forced into an insurance policy against their consent.

In addition, customers who go with the plan they are matched with may later be disappointed and resentful of the system.

The administration is steadfast in its insistence that nobody can be enrolled in a plan without signing up on their own.

"Under no circumstances is anyone going to be enrolled in a plan or need to pay anything without their consent," Christen Linke Young, a federal official who oversees ACA markets, told the AP. "Consumers are getting an option, but they are not getting enrolled into that product without their consent."

The “matching” plan is one of many efforts the administration is undertaking to boost enrollment in ACA plans.

The top priority is getting more young people into the ACA insurance pool. The administration is doing that by reaching out to young people who went without insurance last year as well as backing an aggressive online marketing campaign targeting young people.

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Obama administration to pick ACA plans for displaced customers

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