Many healthcare programs are extended for specific time periods, as short as one or two years or as long as 10, and are usually attached to a larger piece of must-pass legislation. Additionally, while traditional authorizations for some of these programs expire, funding can often continue via the regular appropriations process. On March 14, 2025, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) – the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (FYCAEA, 2025) – that funded the government through fiscal year (FY) 2025, to September 30, 2025. The CR included a small package of healthcare extenders that continued a number of expiring programs through September 30, 2025. However, Congress failed to pass a government funding bill before that deadline and, as a result, many extenders expired and remained expired during the entirety of the government shutdown, beginning October 1, 2025. On November 12, 2025, Congress passed, and President Trump signed, a CR – the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026 (CAEA, 2026) – that reopened the government, included full FY 2026 funding for three of the 12 annual appropriations bills, and provided stopgap funding through January 30, 2026, for the remaining nine appropriations bills. The CR also retroactively restored the expired healthcare extenders for the period of October 1, 2025, through January 30, 2026.
The below chart tracks healthcare programs that require Congressional action between now and 2032 and highlights related recent congressional action on each.
UPDATED DECEMBER 2, 2025.
