How a Government Shutdown Could Affect You

Like Social Security payments, Medicare benefits are mandatory spending and largely continue as normal. Enrollees can still go to the doctor or hospital and get their drug prescriptions filled. Depending on how long a shutdown lasts, medical providers could see a lag in their payments.

If you want to enroll in Medicare during a shutdown, you can still go to ssa.gov and fill out an application. The Medicare hotline (800-633-4227) will continue to operate.

You can get a replacement Medicare card online if you have a My Social Security account (Medicare cards are generated by the Social Security Administration), but this service is not available by phone or at Social Security offices. Most Medicare coverage of home telehealth services has been halted due to lapsed funding. More than 6 million Medicare-eligible adults used telehealth services last year, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Mail delivery

Letters and packages are being delivered as usual, and post office branches remain open. The U.S. Postal Service is an independent agency, and because it does not depend on the federal budget for its funding, it isn't affected by a shutdown.

Veterans

Most government services for military veterans and their families continue during a shutdown, including within the Veterans Health Administration. VA hospitals remain open and fully staffed. The Tricare health insurance program continues to operate as usual. Veterans will still get their pension benefits, and claims will continue to be processed.

VA benefits regional offices and call centers for GI bill assistance, and National Cemetery Applicant Assistance are closed during a shutdown. Grounds maintenance and placement of permanent headstones at VA cemeteries are also halted, but burials and applications for burial benefits processing will continue.

Federal workers and retirees

The federal government is the country’s largest employer, with more than 2.1 million workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Based on an analysis of federal agencies’ shutdown plans, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 750,000 have been furloughed.

Retired federal employees continue to receive their pensions on schedule. They are paid from the Civil Service and Disability Trust Fund, which is not dependent on the annual appropriations process, according to the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), a nonprofit that advocates for current and former federal workers.

NARFE estimates that approximately 2.7 million retirees and their survivors receive federal pensions. Those payments are processed by the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM), most employees of which are still on the job because they are considered essential workers or their salaries are not funded through the appropriations process.

Transportation

Air travel: Air traffic controllers and security screeners are considered essential workers, so they are required to work during the shutdown without pay. However, amid staffing shortages, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a mandate Nov. 7 for airlines to reduce air traffic by 4 percent across 40 of the nation’s busiest airports.

Through Sunday, airlines had cancelled more than 5,800 flights to meet the FAA goal. The reduction in air traffic is set to increase incrementally, to a cap of 10 percent, by Nov. 14.

Train travel: Amtrak trains are running as usual. Although federally owned, Amtrak is chartered as a private corporation and not subject to a government shutdown.

Passports: The U.S. State Department will continue to issue and renew passports and visas. Routine passport applications can be completed at most post offices, which remain open during a government shutdown. However, passport offices located in federal buildings may be closed, so it is a good idea to check before visiting one.

Food safety

Meat, poultry, eggs and various species of catfish that are processed at nearly 7,100 commercial facilities in the U.S. will continue to be inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. It’s not clear how other food-processing facilities — such as cereal makers, ice cream plants and cheese factories — will be affected. During the 2018–2019 shutdown, routine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections were initially stopped. Some were later restored.

Drug safety

The FDA will continue to approve medications, inspect drug-manufacturing facilities and regulate tobacco products, as these functions are paid for by user fees. It will also continue to address imminent threats to human health or life, including outbreaks of foodborne illness and infectious diseases, product recalls and drug shortages.

Nutrition

Millions of older adults who rely on food assistance are facing delayed payments as a result of the shutdown.

Low-income households enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) received benefits for October but not November. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees SNAP, said there were “insufficient funds” to pay benefits after Oct. 31.

Two federal judges ruled that the USDA must pay at least partial SNAP benefits out of its emergency funds, but the Supreme Court put those decisions on hold after the Trump administration filed an appeal. The spending bill now pending in Congress would restore funding for the SNAP program.

National parks and monuments

In general, national parks remain open but are operating at reduced capacity. About 64 percent of the National Park Service workforce has been furloughed, according to the agency’s contingency plan, and the remaining employees are working without pay.

The contingency plan says that park roads, trails, lookouts and other open spaces are generally open to visitors. However, parks without accessible areas will be closed, and sites currently open may be closed if damage is done to park resources or if garbage accumulates. If you plan to visit a park, check its website for the latest updates on its status.

The Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian operates 21 museums, most of them in Washington, D.C., and the National Zoo, also in Washington. It gets about 62 percent of its funding from the federal government and the rest from private sources.

During a shutdown, the Smithsonian can keep its facilities open using what’s left of its funding from the previous fiscal year, but it closes sites when that money is exhausted. That happened Oct. 11, and the Smithsonian’s museums, research centers and the National Zoo are now “temporarily closed” due to the shutdown, according to a message on its website. 

Randy Lilleston, Andy Markowitz, Susan Milligan, Molly Snow, Berit Thorkelson and Peter Urban contributed to this article.