Congress has approved a deal to fully reopen the federal government and keep the nation from defaulting on its debt. The agreement does not delay or defund the Affordable Care Act.
On Oct. 16 – 16 days into the government shutdown and about a day before the United States was set to breach its debt ceiling – the Senate voted 81-18 to approve a bipartisan compromise brokered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Later that night, the House approved the bill 285-144. The president signed the legislation in the early hours of Oct. 17.
Sen. Mitch McConnell
The law funds the federal government at its current levels until Jan. 15, 2014, keeping the sequestration cuts in effect. It also allows the government to continue to borrow money to meet its financial obligations until Feb. 7, 2014. In the meantime, lawmakers have agreed to convene a budget conference to work out a long-range budget plan by mid-December.
Although the bill does not fundamentally change the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it does require the Department of Health and Human Services to beef up its income verification for individuals seeking subsidies to purchase insurance on the exchanges.
Last July, the agency announced that it would not verify the income of every applicant who applied for federal subsidies through the exchanges. Instead, federal officials planned to audit a sample of applications to ensure that individuals were getting the appropriate federal insurance subsidies. GOP lawmakers objected to this approach, saying that relying too heavily on the honor system in determining federal subsidies would leave the government open to fraud.
Under the new law, HHS must submit a report to Congress on its verification procedures by Jan. 1, 2014, and the HHS Inspector General must submit a progress report by July 2014 on the effectiveness of the new procedures.
Although the new law doesn’t do anything to hamper the implementation of the ACA, opponents have not given up. Sen. McConnell, who negotiated the deal with Democrats, said that Republicans will keep trying to repeal the ACA.
"This law is ravaging our economy, killing jobs, driving up premiums, and driving people off the health care plans they have and like in droves," he said on the Senate floor. "Its disastrous rollout is a sign of even worse things to come. And the Democrat refusal to delay it reflects a stubborn ideological obsession that will do untold damage to our country."
mschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
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