Some furloughed workers will return to manage health insurance open
enrollment as shutdown drags on
[October 24, 2025]
By ALI SWENSON
NEW YORK (AP) The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services will
temporarily bring all its furloughed employees back to work starting
Monday to manage health insurance open enrollment, according to an
agency spokesperson.
The recall to duty amid the more than three-week-long government
shutdown is what's needed to best serve the American people amid the
Medicare and Marketplace open enrollment seasons, the spokesperson said
Thursday.
It will be paid for by user fees gathered from sharing data with
researchers, the agency said.
The decision to call the employees back shows how significantly shutting
down the government and losing staffing has impacted federal government
operations during a crucial season, as millions of Americans are
selecting their health insurance plans for next year. CMS provides
health coverage to more than 160 million people, according to its
website.
It also comes during a moment of uncertainty for Affordable Care Act
enrollees, with Congress deadlocked on how to handle expiring subsidies
that have made marketplace health insurance less expensive for millions
since 2021. Democratic lawmakers are demanding a deal to extend the
COVID-era subsidies before they agree to fund the government, while
Republican lawmakers want to reopen the government before negotiating
that question.

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President Donald Trump listens as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks in the Oval Office of
the White House, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Alex Brandon)
 As their stalemate and the resulting
government shutdown continue, the cost of next year's health
insurance for many of the 24 million ACA enrollees is still unknown,
even with open enrollment beginning in a week.
Though CMS didn't specify for how long the employees will return,
the open enrollment period for Medicare runs between Oct. 15 and
Dec. 7, while the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act
marketplace runs between Nov. 1 and Jan. 15.
While the agency didn't answer questions about how many employees
would return to work, about 3,300 of CMS's staff, or a little over
half, were expected to be retained during the shutdown, according to
the agency's contingency plans. That would mean about 3,000
furloughed workers are being called back to work Monday.
While CMS has not seen any layoffs during the current shutdown, its
parent agency the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
was among the hardest hit by the government-wide reduction in force.
Nearly 1,000 HHS staff were abruptly fired earlier this month,
though a judge has temporarily paused those layoffs from taking
effect.
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