Shutdown could also cause health insurance premiums to rise, resulting in more Americans becoming uninsured, says Nancy Nielsen
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The government shutdown is already impacting the health care industry and will get worse within a month, says Nancy Nielsen, a former president of the American Medical Association who serves as senior associate dean for health policy at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo.
The government shutdown won’t be very noticeable in the beginning, Nielsen says, but within a month WIC and SNAP funds could dry up and people with health insurance through the Affordable Care Act will see a large rise in the cost of their premiums.
“The government shutdown will not have an immediate effect on people whose health requires access to hospitals or outpatient providers,” says Nielsen. “At Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service facilities, direct patient care providers are exempt from being furloughed, but veterans needing help in adjusting to civilian life or handling paperwork will probably not be able to get it.”
The Department of Health and Human Services has furloughed 41% of its employees, but maintains that it will still be able to address public health or natural disasters. Nonetheless, the shutdown could directly impact Americans, Nielsen says.
“There is no doubt that food safety inspections will decrease, and CDC will not be able to communicate health information to the public,” she says.
The shutdown is already impacting other areas, she says.
For example, funding expired for community health centers, the National Health Service Corps and teaching health centers operating Graduate Medical Education programs. Other lapsed programs include special diabetes programs, increased payments for low-volume hospitals, the Medicare-dependent hospital program, and outreach for low-income programs. Also, telehealth provisions are suspended, except for addiction and mental health or in rural areas.
People served by WIC will be out of money at the end of October when funds left over from last year are exhausted. Nielsen says that even the most optimistic estimates surmise that WIC funds will run out one week beyond that.
More troubling, Nielsen says, is that people with health insurance through state or federal marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act will be notified within days that their premiums will rise dramatically.
“Estimates range from doubling to quadrupling of the monthly premiums. The effect of that rise is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to result in 4 million Americans becoming uninsured,” she says. “People have to enroll in the health insurance program for next year beginning Nov. 1, which is the reason that notices will go out soon.”
