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Telehealth has become an important part of U.S. healthcare, but the country is about a month away from severely hindering its use, advocates say.
Lawmakers need to take action to expand the flexibility of telehealth rules originally granted to Medicare during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it continues to this day. These allowances expire on March 31st.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) Telehealth coverage method Provide permanent Medicare coverage for telehealth.
In a statement, Kanna accused President Donald J. Trump of “millions of senior Americans stripped of telehealth coverage on March 31st.” Virtual visits held on April 1 by video conference and telephone are no longer covered, he said.
“This affects more than 12 million Americans. What’s crazy is that the inspector general has discovered that Telehealth has only had 0.2% of fraud,” the Kanna announcement states. “So why do we take telehealth away from millions of seniors who are either home or have difficulty leaving? That’s the most devastating for rural Americans.”
ATA encourages action
He called for bipartisan action, but it wasn’t the only one doing so.
This week, the American Telehealth Association (ATA) published its letter to Congressional leaders to “urge them to take action in March to establish permanent or long-term access to telehealth.” Dozens of healthcare organizations and businesses have signed requests to Senate Majority Leader John Tune (R-South Dakota), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York).
The ATA highlights that Telehealth Services has received strong, bipartisan support since the pandemic. The ATA cited at least four Main reasons to keep it:
- It will ensure that it will be delivered to Medicare beneficiaries and programs.
- Enhance national healthcare workers through a flexible virtual staffing model.
- Refunds encourage continued investment in technology and infrastructure, especially for physicians and other clinicians in rural and underserved communities.
- Health plans and employers gain the flexibility of benefits plans, especially for deductible health plans.
Earlier this month, the association’s ATA Action issued a statement celebrating the Trump administration and Congress for bipartisan support. NBC News Khanna’s social media posts about her previous Twitter, X, attracted a lot of attention due to the deadline for TeleHealth on March 31st.
Petition for change
Online Activists Website Change.org has published petition Oncologist Robert Heuer, Maryland, cited a patient from rural southern Colorado as an example of successful use of telemedicine.
“Many of my patients live in rural communities and are either far from immediate medical access or are held home for their condition,” his petition states. High mortality rates for rural patients and long travel is a barrier to treatment for people with cancer or multiple chronic diseases, Hoyer said.
“For patients with cancer diagnosis or chronic illness, Telehealth provides important links to their care teams. Telehealth can also help alleviate costly trips to medical appointments, work leave and childcare costs,” the petition states.
As of February 28th, the petition had 21,044 signatures.
