While Congress is racing to squash budget disputes and avoid a government shutdown, you and your peers are wondering whether your
Medicare payments will be hit. The short answer is no – assuming the shutdown is short, that is.
“Medicare would continue to pay claims for care provided to people with Medicare…it’s not like Medicare would run out of money,” an HHS spokesman says. “If the shutdown would continue for an extended period of time contractors may have to slow or stop payments.”
HHS would not elaborate on the exact length of time contractors would have before slowing or stopping payments.
Since contractors handle reimbursement claim payments to providers, those payments will be stymied as the funding for those contractors dwindles, HHS says, adding as long as contractors can pay out the claims, things will run smoothly.
Medicare’s website will be operational, in the immediate future, and will be able to process new beneficiary applications, says the HHS official.
But Medicare staffing could take a serious blow.
“There will be furloughs at CMS” but no specifics, an HHS official says.
During the last government shutdown in 1995, Stanley Nachimson, former CMS senior technical advisor, was furloughed for three weeks.
“[If] there’s no budget, go home, you’re not permitted to go in the office or engage in government activities,” Nachimson, says of the last shutdown.
“We didn’t know if we were going to get paid or not. As it turns [out] they did end up paying us for the time we were furloughed.”