The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it would temporarily call back all of its furloughed employees on Monday to handle open enrollment for both Medicare and health plans available under the Affordable Care Act.
The decision was made “to best serve the American people amid the Medicare and marketplace open enrollment seasons,” according to an agency spokeswoman. The employees have been furloughed for three weeks since the government shutdown began.
The agency said it would fund the restoration of daily operations with user fees collected from sharing data with researchers. It did not say how many workers were being called back; C.M.S. employs thousands of people.
Open enrollment for Medicare runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. During that time, older people and others eligible because of disabilities are allowed to change the type of coverage they want through the government’s website. They can either choose the traditional government program or select a Medicare Advantage plan offered by a private insurer. They can also switch from their current plan to another. About 69 million people receive Medicare benefits.
While Americans are supposed to begin enrolling in Obamacare plans for next year on Nov. 1, the standoff in Congress over the future of expanded subsidies that expire at the end of the year is already creating alarm and confusion. If Congress ends the more generous subsidies, prices paid by individuals are expected to more than double, according to an analysis by KFF, a health research group.
About 24 million people are enrolled in Obamacare.
About a dozen states are already allowing people to view their costs without the additional subsidies. But the federal site, healthcare.gov, which manages the marketplaces for 28 states, has so far not published any information about next year’s plans and how much they would cost someone signing up.
The agency has declined to comment on a specific timetable to allow people to shop for plans before open enrollment begins. It also did not reply to questions about whether the government shutdown had delayed opening the portal for shopping before Nov. 1.
On Monday, the outage at Amazon Web Services reportedly affected the Medicare enrollment website nearly all day. It was not known whether any disruptions experienced by those trying to sign up influenced the agency’s decision to recall workers.
Reed Abelson covers the business of health care, focusing on how financial incentives are affecting the delivery of care, from the costs to consumers to the profits to providers.
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