Government shutdown ends: 5 healthcare notes

The longest government shutdown in American history ended Nov. 12, but the fate of the ACA enhanced premium tax credits — the sticking point for Democrats — will not be decided until December. 

Five things to know:

1. President Donald Trump signed the resolution to fund the government through Jan. 30 after the House of Representatives voted 222-209 to pass the spending package, Politico reported Nov. 12. The bill funds the Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs through the full fiscal year, but all other departments — including HHS — are funded through the end of January. 

2. The spending package also extends Medicare telehealth and the acute hospital care at home programs that lapsed when the shutdown began on Oct. 1, according to the American Telemedicine Association. Those programs will be funded through Jan. 30 and the package allows for retroactive payments for services provided since the waivers lapsed. 

After the shutdown began, 35% of hospital-at-home programs stopped providing care to traditional Medicare patients under the CMS waiver, 20% ended treatment for patients who weren’t covered by the waiver, and 23% shifted all or part of the care to outpatient treatment at home, according to the survey of 140 programs by the Hospital at Home Users Group, which shared the data Oct. 28 with Becker’s.

3. The Senate passed the spending package on Nov. 10. Under the terms of the agreement in the Senate, a vote to extend the ACA subsidies will take place in mid-December, according to Politico. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, however, was not part of those negotiations and has not promised a similar vote in the House. 

4. The agreement negotiated in the Senate also included a guarantee that the White House would rehire all federal employees who were fired during the shutdown as part of the administration’s reductions in force plan, according to Politico. The White House has also pledged to give all federal workers back pay for the duration of the shutdown. 

5. A spokesperson for the White House’s budget office said that those Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will see their accounts fully restored within hours of the government reopening, The New York Times reported Nov. 12. SNAP benefits expired Nov. 1 and have been subject to a legal fight regarding short-term funding.   

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