This year is strength training, not a marathon
Hi caseworkers,
I know this is not comforting when your team is facing what feels like a perfect storm of casework — this year’s big agency shifts, plus the shutdown, plus the Medicare Advantage changes, plus wobbly economic indicators, and on and on — but one thing that we consistently see when we talk to casework teams is that the offices who approach big casework crises as learning opportunities come out of them stronger.
I’m stealing this from the inimitable Casey Johnston, but this year is more like strength training than running a marathon: by balancing progressive overload with appropriate rest (if you feel subtweeted here, you are), you build the muscles that will let you tackle bigger challenges. Whether you stay in casework or take these skills and experiences to the next phase of your career, the ability to rise to a challenge of this magnitude makes you a force to be reckoned with.
Our usual roundup of agency-related news below — and thanks so much to everyone who took our Casework Navigator reader survey! Your stickers are either in the mail right now or coming your way next week. And that thing I said about only the first 25 responses getting stickers? Nah. If you’d like a sticker, fill out our survey, let me know how we can support you, and we’ll send that out.
If you have questions about our work or suggestions for how we can be helpful, please feel free to reply to this email, or reach out to me at anne@popvox.org.
Anne Meeker
Managing Director
POPVOX Foundation
Casework News
Roll Call covered the casework impact of the government shutdown in general, as did the Atlanta Journal Constitution for the Georgia delegation.
Shutdown activities and statements from Sen. Marshall [R, KS], Sen. Justice [R, WV], Rep. Collins [R, GA], and Rep. Lee [D, PA]
Congratulations to the Lawler [R, NY] team on a bonkers $38 million returned!
Moving look at the personal impact of cuts to special education on the family of Sen. Maggie Hassan [D, NH]
Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva [D, NM] has not been sworn in, leaving NM constituents without constituent service support.
The Department of Defense issued new guidance that all communications with Congress must now be routed through the Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs (whistleblowers and service members seeking constituent services help are exempt). If you currently route any communications for casework or field outreach through a local military installation, this may impact your work. This may also be complicated in the next earmark process.
Members of the Minority on both the House and Senate VA Committees have released a letter to VA Secretary Collins asking that he end the “artificial” casework communications freeze during the shutdown.
Local government software provider Granicus announced its acquisition of Indigov.
Health Insurance Changes
It’s open enrollment season or almost enrollment season for employer plans, FEHB plans, Medicare Advantage plans, and ACA marketplace plans, and there is a lot of fast-moving news about how all of these are changing for constituents. This is one of those areas that will vary dramatically between states, so it’s worth reaching out to your local Medicare/ACA Navigator programs to see if they have up-to-date resources and tips on where to refer constituents (although they may be facing their own challenges with demand).
Nice overview from The Cut on how the insurance market is changing and will impact constituents (although…telling constituents to call the CBO to express their frustrations is an odd move?).
Axios overview of how Medicare Advantage plans are changing. If you’re curious, Fox Business has more market analysis about what’s driving these changes. We know many of you are already seeing a surge in demand for support from constituents navigating coverage transitions (including maintaining access to specific providers and specific drugs), coverage gaps, and we’d expect this to continue through 2025 and into 2026 with issues with individual transitions, coverage dropped in error, etc.
Some of these health insurance market trends are also driven by changes to Medicare Part D that took effect this year. If you missed those, they included negotiated pricing for access to specific drugs, closing the “donut hole,” the introduction of a pharmacy deductible, etc. Caseworkers may get questions from constituents on the increase in the out-of-pocket cap, questions about coverage for specific medications exempt from negotiated pricing, and volatile premiums.
Adding to the confusion, a Washington Post investigation found that CMS’ provider directory tool produced incorrect and conflicting information about which providers are covered under which plans.
Federal health coverage employee contributions are also set to go up by 12.3% on average.
And, yes, ACA premiums are set to increase if subsidies end on November 1. Our friends at Policy Engine have a tool to calculate household-level impact under both scenarios.
Shutdown
Home buyers in areas prone to flooding risk may see issues closing on home sales while NFIP is not issuing new policies during the shutdown.
The Judicial Branch announced on Monday, October 20 that it would suspend full paid operations.
National Parks, including Yosemite, are seeing an influx of unauthorized and illegal visitors and activity. It is not clear how many emergency personnel may be available to assist in a crisis.
IRS noted that tax deadlines remain in effect during the shutdown. Automated services within the IRS are continuing, including some phone services and e-filed error-free tax return/refund processing. The IRS will also continue to process payments received.
Many states are issuing warnings about funding for SNAP and WIC running out imminently.
Partnership for Public Service has a guide to understanding retroactive pay.
President Trump stated that a private donor gave the United States $130 million to cover troop pay during the shutdown.
IRS notified staff verbally that if they are currently excepted but take more than eight hours of leave in one pay period, they will be moved to furloughed status.
SSA appears to be denying excepted employee requests for time off or telework, against OPM shutdown guidance — including for some employees who cannot afford to commute without pay.
Immigration
Doug Rand has a quick explainer on rising “frontlog” numbers of applications currently received by USCIS but not currently removed from their shipping boxes and opened, let alone processing. Full USCIS data here.
DHS announced the implementation of a $1,000 fee for immigration parole, effective October 16.
For offices in areas with National Guard deployments, the NYT has a guide to visually identifying National Guard vs. ICE vs. Border Patrol vs. FBI/DEA/Secret Service.
Permanent residents have reported receiving tickets from ICE for not having their proof of permanent residency on them during stops.
If your office has been asked to try to locate someone previously removed from the country, this look at the pathway for migrants deported to Panama may be helpful.
Miscellaneous
As my former colleague Katherine Long wrote — economic downturns show up in casework, both as an early warning and in the long tail of impact. With that in mind, we’re watching some indicators like rising electricity rates and missing car payments. They may not require immediate attention, but are good for caseworkers to be aware of.
The Department of Labor is piloting a centralized intake platform for unemployment claims.
Although the announcement was delayed due to the shutdown, SSA announced a 2.8% COLA for beneficiaries starting in January.
OPM Director Scott Kupor’s blog on OPM transformation is always an interesting read (we heard that someone recently buttonholed him at a conference to evangelize for the value of good casework service — watch this space?).
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