The Shutdown

It’s happening. The federal government is partially shutting-down. And though there are endless summaries of what will happen, the truth is no one can really predict it. That’s because each federal agency has it’s own contingency plan. And these plans, just like any plan you might make for, say, an unpredicted house fire or bad weather, can be adjusted by the leadership of each agency as deemed prudent.  

For example, if part of an employee’s work is deemed essential but another part is not, can that employee still do the other nonessential work? According to page 9 of the official memorandum by the White House Budget Office ( https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/m-18-05-Final.pdf ), it seems like the answer to this is “yes” as long as it is completed within a day. However, what constitutes essential and nonessential work also varies between agencies. So, in order to help you better understand what might happen, or what has happened, or what should have happened, is your very own official guide on the “Causes, Processes and Effects” of a government shut down: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34680.pdf. This official publication by the Congressional Research Service outlines in detail the history of recent shutdowns (there have been 18!), the specific order of furloughs and the multiple unresolved issues related to federal grants and national security.  

But why does the government even have to shut down? Well, it turns out that there is a law called the Antideficiency Act that states an agency must cease operations if there are no appropriations (planned budget) for the year, except in certain situations when law authorizes continued activity. The idea is that this would help the government run responsibly. A summary of some things that might change during a partial shut down can be found here: https://www.voanews.com/a/during-government-shutdown-what-closed-who-affected/4216433.html/  

In healthcare, the big federal entities that see immediate changes are the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, which has to stop accepting new patients for clinical studies (https://cc.nih.gov/), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has to stop surveillance activities including answering their disease hotline. The VA should operate as normal, and clinics and hospitals expecting reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid should still see payments made on time. However, because employees who help answer billing questions might be furloughed, there might be delays in solving payment problems or correcting billing errors.  

If you haven’t tired of yet another piece on the federal shut-down, then here are additional links to writings on what has happened ( https://www.natlawreview.com/article/effect-government-shutdown-medicare-medicaid-and-other-affordable-care-act-aca-relat ) and what might happen https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/agency-contingency-plans/  

​Angelie Singh  ​