Dive Brief:
- The CMS is temporarily calling back its furloughed employees to help during the open enrollment periods for Medicare and Affordable Care Act plans, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed to Healthcare Dive.
- They did not specify how many staffers are affected, but the return to work should encompass the roughly 3,000 employees put on furlough due to the government shutdown earlier this month, according to the agency’s plan for a lapse in funding.
- The employees will resume work on Monday “in order to best serve the American people amid the Medicare and Marketplace open enrollment seasons,” the spokesperson said. The CMS plans to pay them through funding collected through user fees from sharing data with researchers.
Dive Insight:
The CMS is bringing its furloughed employees back into office scant days before the beginning of open enrollment for ACA plans begins on Nov. 1, and well after enrollment for Medicare began on Oct. 15.
The employees have been at home since the beginning of the government shutdown, currently in its fourth week. Though federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid are mandatory and have largely been unaffected, the shutdown has caused interruptions and delays in agency communications, rulemaking and oversight processes — along with fear for federal workers as the Trump administration uses the shutdown to justify more layoffs.
At the center of the shutdown is the future of more generous subsidies for ACA plans, which were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic but are set to expire at the end of this year.
The subsidies made ACA plans significantly more affordable for low- and middle-income enrollees and are credited for spurring record enrollment in the exchanges. If they expire, premiums are expected to more than double for subsidized enrollees, and roughly 4 million to 5 million people will be priced out of the exchanges, according to various estimates.
Democrats are refusing to support a funding bill without an extension of the subsidies, while Republicans argue the issue should wait until after the government is reopened.
The gridlock doesn’t appear like it’s going to break any time soon. Even if the subsidies are extended now, insurers and state regulators have little time to ensure the changes are reflected in plans before the coverage kicks in next year. Already Americans report being bowled over by sticker shock during window shopping for plans on state marketplaces, a period before enrollment officially begins in which they can view coverage options.
The federal plan shopping website, Healthcare.gov., has yet to post prices for 2026.
