Some Americans who froze their credit reports following thebig data breach this year at the credit-ratingfirm Equifax may be in for a surprise if they try to purchaseinsurance on the federal health law’s marketplaces. That freeze could trigger a delayin the application process.

Signing up for a marketplace plan online requires consumers —especially first-time enrollees — to prove their identity by answering questionslinked to their credit history. It can affect both those who areseeking a subsidy and those who are not.

But here’s the rub: Consumers who have blocked access to theircredit reports often “cannot get past the ID-proofing part,” saidMatthew Byrne, founder of the Spiralight Group, a brokerage inDublin, Ohio.

That presents problems as the clock is ticking onopen-enrollment season for the Affordable Care Act’s healthcoverage, which ends Friday in most states.

“Your identity wasn’t verified,” warns the healthcare.gov page.It suggests that the applicant call “the help desk,” which is runby another credit reporting firm — Experian — that works with themarketplace, or call the healthcare.gov call center, according to ascreenshot sent to KHN by a broker.

That call to Experian sometimes solves the problem, if theapplicant can successfully answer questions generated by the firm.Those can include queries about previous addresses, vehicles ownedor current mortgage lenders, according to a 2016 report from the Center on Budget and PolicyPriorities.

But not always. Geoff Dellapenna said shortly after he and hisbroker entered some of his information onto the online application,the screen showed the warning that his identity could not beverified. They would need to make another call first.

“I just put a stop to it,” said Dellapenna, 46, of Canton, Ga.“I was so frustrated with how cumbersome the whole process wasbeing that I just could not do it.”

He’s now working with the broker to see if he can getsmall-group insurance for his company — avoiding the healthcare.govsite altogether.

There are workarounds for consumers: Applicants may have toupload or mail in documents. Some brokers advise their clients to“unfreeze” their credit reports before enrolling in the ACA bycalling the three major credit rating agencies: Equifax, Experianand TransUnion. The freeze can be restored once enrolled.

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Kaiser HealthNews (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It isan editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser FamilyFoundation which is not affiliated with KaiserPermanente.

But those options may take time. With the Dec. 15 deadline fastapproaching, brokers say some people will be upset if they waituntil the last minute.

“None of this is simple,” said Kelly Fristoe, a broker inWichita Falls, Texas.

Fristoe said the subject of credit freezes and the IDverification has come up frequently on broker forums this year.Otherwise, he added, the enrollment process has been smooth.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Servicessaid consumers using healthcare.gov, which serves 39 states, don’tneed to unfreeze their credit in order to apply, “nor do werecommend that step for identity proofing.” Uploading or mailingthe information will generally work, she said.

Most of the states that run their own marketplaces for ACAenrollment also use the Experian system for identity proofing,although at least two — New York and California — have modified theprocess to help avoid some of the delays, according to the policyreport.

New York, for example, uses state motor vehicle records andother data in addition to Experian — and has a special call centerthat certified assisters can use to help applicants who can’t passthe online verification. California also uses assisters, who areregistered with the state, to check documents and upload them forapplicants, the report says.

Many people heeded warnings in the early fall to monitor theircredit or place a “credit freeze” on their accounts with the threemajor reporting firms after Equifax revealed that hackers hadstolen information on 143 million Americans, including SocialSecurity numbers.

A freezerestricts access to a consumer’s credit report, which can make itmore difficult for identity thieves to open new accounts usingstolen information. Consumers must call or go online with each ofthe three credit-reporting agencies to create a freeze — and keepthe PIN numbers needed to reopen the accounts.

Still, a credit freeze isn’t the only reason why applicantsmight face an ID delay, said Spiralight’s Byrne.

Sometimes applicants enter a number incorrectly — say, one digitin a Social Security number. They may have a fraud alert on theircredit accounts because of a previous identity theft. Or the personis young and has little or no credit history.

But in all cases, they may get a notice saying more informationis required and the application process comes to a standstill. But,so long as the process was started before the end of openenrollment, consumers should be able to finish theirapplications.

Once they get cleared after providing documents, applicants areeligible for a special enrollment period, said Shelby Gonzales,senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and PolicyPriorities. In that case, her advice is to telephone the“healthcare.gov call center and let them know you’ve been clearedfor identity proofing, and they should be able to help you activatethe special enrollment,” she said.

Kaiser HealthNews (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is aneditorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation whichis not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.