Medicare, Social Security Checks WILL Continue after Shutdown/Also the ACA Rollout...
Lights out for most, not all, in shutdown
By Julian Hattem - 09/30/13 12:37 PM ET
A government shutdown would turn off the lights at a slew of federal offices, furloughing workers, closing national parks and locking shut research laboratories across the country.
All but the most essential functions of government would grind to a halt.
Not all agencies would close their doors, however. Federal programs, like Medicare and Social Security, that aren't funded by annual congressional appropriations would keep chugging, and workers deemed necessary to protect lives and property would also stay on the clock.
The shutdown scenarios will take effect if Congress fails to pass a stopgap spending measure by midnight.
For the most part, federal agencies are required to develop their own plans for operating in the event of a government shutdown, technically known as a lapse in appropriations. Those plans need to be filed with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
“Normally, routine, ongoing operational and administrative activities relating to contract or grant administration (including payment processing) cannot continue when there is a lapse in funding,” the OMB said in a guide for agencies distributed in recent weeks.
Any functions necessary in the case of an emergency, though, would continue.
That means that border patrol agents would stay on the job, as would airport security screeners and meat inspectors.
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Social Security checks would continue to go out, and ObamaCare implementation would go ahead largely unhindered, since those programs are funded through mandatory appropriations that aren’t renewed annually by Congress.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “would continue large portions of [Affordable Care Act] activities, including coordination between Medicaid and the Marketplace, as well as insurance rate reviews, and assessment of a portion of insurance premiums that are used on medical services,” the Health and Human Services Department said in a memo about its shutdown plans.
“In the short term, the Medicare Program will continue largely without disruption during a lapse in appropriations,” it added.
More at..........
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/other/325489-lights-out-for-some-in-shutdown-but-not-all-
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