Congress Ends Partial Government Shutdown With Passage of Funding Bill, Significant Healthcare Legislation

The four-day partial federal government shutdown that started Saturday, January 31, is over after Congress passed, and the president signed into law, broad legislation to fund the federal government.

On Tuesday, February 3, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 217-214 to approve the government funding plan passed by the Senate on Friday, January 30.  Twenty-one Republicans voted against the package, while 21 Democrats crossed party lines to support it, including three of the five members of Connecticut’s delegation: U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Joe Courtney (CT-02), and Jim Himes (CT-04).  Representatives John Larson (CT-01) and Jahana Hayes (CT-05) voted no.

When the package was before the Senate late last week, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) voted in favor of the funding package, while Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) opposed it.

The package consists of a short-term continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for 10 days, until February 13, and five full-year appropriations bills with conferenced legislation for the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development.

A bipartisan health package was also included with retroactive extensions of key healthcare programs.  Additional provisions in the package:

• Extend pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities through 2027 and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hospital-at-home waiver through September 30, 2030
• Eliminate scheduled Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payment cuts, delaying the next potential reductions until fiscal 2028
• Extend the Medicare-dependent and low-volume hospital programs
• Provide $1.4 billion to strengthen the healthcare workforce in rural and underserved areas
• Earmark $418 million for rural health, targeting rural hospitals at risk of closure and expanding rural residency opportunities
• Maintain $1.9 billion for community health centers that provide care in underserved communities
• Include $1.2 billion for maternal and child health
• Eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Social Determinants of Health program

The package also includes pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform-related provisions that expand CMS oversight of PBMs in Medicare Part D, requiring the groups to report detailed data on drug pricing, rebates, pharmacy reimbursement, and payments retained by PBMs and their affiliates.  It also authorizes audits and enforcement actions, including requiring PBMs to repay money they were not allowed to collect or keep, and directs CMS to monitor reimbursement and network participation trends for “essential retail pharmacies,” with reporting requirements to begin in 2028.

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