Medicare Government Shutdown
What Happens to Medicare During Government Shutdown? As you’ve surely seen on the news, heard on the radio, or read in the paper, the United States government is facing a spending crisis. At the time of this article being written, lawmakers in Washington have until October 30th to pass a spending bill or the federal government will shut down, and many of the essential programs our citizens rely on will shut down with it.
People are, reasonably, worried. Many of those people are older retirees who rely on Social Security and Medicare for their income and healthcare services. Since the federal government is in charge of these programs, people wonder, what happens to them during a government shutdown?
The Good News
Here’s the good news: “Checks will continue to go out,” according to Bill Sweeney, who is the senior vice president of government affairs at the AARP. Mandatory spending include Social Security benefits. These continue to go out to their beneficiaries. As far as Medicare goes, everything should continue mostly as normal. People with Medicare can continue to seek healthcare services. Providers continue to get paid. Where this comes into question is based on how long a government shutdown, should there be one, continues. Medicare beneficiaries, Medicaid beneficiaries, and those enrolled in the Affordable Care Act could still use their coverage, and their doctors and providers could continue to submit bills and get paid.
If a shutdown lasts a long time, it is more and more likely to affect those benefits. Medicare beneficiaries are most likely to feel an effect from a shutdown if the shutdown lasts a month or more. For the government shutdown looming at the time this article was written, Medicare has funding available for the next full three months, regardless of whether or not a spending agreement is reached before the October 1st deadline.
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