Millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance were informed this fall that their policies would no longer be offered starting in 2014 because they do not meet the higher standards of the federal Affordable Care Act. The actual number of people receiving the notices is unclear, in part because officials in nearly 20 states say they do not have the information or are not tracking it.

Some states tracked the policy notifications through their insurance departments or health care exchanges. In other states, the largest private insurers released the number of discontinuation notices they issued.

President Barack Obama then said insurance companies could allow the older policies to continue, but left that decision to the states and individual insurers. The response has been mixed.