By Siddhi Mahatole
(Reuters) -The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will temporarily bring back furloughed staff next week to support open enrollment for Medicare and Affordable Care Act plans, despite the ongoing government shutdown, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
The agency said the move was necessary “to better serve the American people” during enrollment periods.
Staff had been suspended for three weeks and will return on October 27, according to the spokesperson.
CMS will fund the return using user fees collected through data-sharing agreements with researchers, allowing it to resume limited operations without appropriations from Congress.
He did not reveal how many workers are being laid off.
Medicare open enrollment began on October 15 and runs through December 7, allowing eligible people, including seniors and people with disabilities, to switch between traditional Medicare and private Medicare Advantage plans, or change their current coverage.
Enrollment for ACA plans is scheduled to begin Nov. 1, but uncertainty about the future of the expanded subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year, has already raised concerns.
Without an extension of the ACA, millions of Americans will suffer significant increases in their health care premiums, what Democrats have called “a health care crisis.”
CMS will continue to follow rules governing the Democratic-led government shutdown, the spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shailesh Kuber)