PPACA Exchanges Open for Enrollment Despite Shutdown

Despite the government shutdown, the health insurance exchanges established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act opened for enrollment today, according to a CMS news release.

After weeks of heated debate over a Republican proposal to defund the PPACA, Congress failed to pass a spending resolution by today's deadline. As a result, many agencies overseen by HHS including the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health will operate at a significantly reduced capacity.

However, CMS will be largely unaffected, and all insurance marketplace activities will proceed as planned. Earlier this month, policy experts predicted the exchanges would launch even in the case of a government shutdown because the funding that 16 states and the District of Columbia are set to receive to run their new health insurance exchanges is part of a "permanent appropriation." That means the money is cemented in the 2010 healthcare reform law and isn't subject to annual appropriations, Paul Van de Water, a policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told Reuters.

Coverage will be available as soon as Jan. 1 for people who enroll by Dec. 15. Learn more about the exchanges at HealthCare.gov.

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