A permanent Medicare telehealth expansion is an easy bipartisan victory

Telemedicine has increased patient access to quality care and helped millions receive efficient, cost-effective medical support, especially for elderly and rural populations. But its widened coverage under Medicare is now in jeopardy. Congress must act to preserve this critical lifeline.

Before the pandemic, telemedicine reimbursement under Medicare was largely limited to those who lived in rural areas. Even then, technology limitations and bureaucratic red tape prohibited patients from making these visits from the comfort of their own homes; they had to travel to Medicare-approved health clinics to conduct virtual sessions to receive care.

Expanded coverage began in 2020, when COVID-19 prevented many Americans from being able to see their physicians in the office. Since then, telehealth has become a widely popular alternative to physical visits for patients and doctors and has proven to be a capable method of addressing non-emergency medical needs.

Last year, a Yale School of Medicine study found telehealth to be equally effective as in-person doctor sessions. For those in palliative care, the study concluded telehealth “quality-of-life” scores were similar to those who traveled to a doctor’s office.

Telehealth saves patients time and money. A 2023 study of cancer patients determined that virtual doctor visits saved them an average of 2.9 hours and as much as $186 per visit by eliminating travel expenses and lost income from taking time off of work.

The U.S Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services concluded in 2018 that telehealth saved patients $60 million in travel costs alone. That was two years before Congress authorized coverage expansion. Imagine what this number is today.

Telehealth is cheaper in the healthcare system. Penn Medicine discovered that telemedicine employee visits were “significantly less expensive to deliver” — 23 percent less to be exact — compared to in-person consultations.

Insurance giant Cigna found that non-urgent telehealth visits cost $93 less on average than in-person ones, and virtual specialist visits saved as much as $141 per visit by eliminating unnecessary emergency room visits.

“For many of our customers,” a Cigna representative explained, “virtual care continues to be the best way to meet their needs in a cost-effective manner.”

The facts show ER visits have indeed declined as a result of expanded Medicare coverage of telehealth. Virtual visits have avoided placing additional burdens on these facilities, freeing up precious ER resources to address urgent life-and-death matters.

Telehealth is also better for the environment. UC Davis Health researchers projected five of the University of California’s health systems eliminated nearly 54 million travel miles that would have been added to the nation’s carbon footprint thanks to telehealth availability during the first two years of the pandemic.

And telemedicine doesn’t limit patient access to physicians within their own geographic proximity. That’s important when someone must seek advice from specialty medical professionals who may practice a great distance from where the patient lives.

Expanded Medicare reimbursement of telehealth services has been consistently renewed by Congress since 2020. At the end of 2024, with no plan in place, Republicans agreed to a continuing resolution to keep the government open, which included a provision to keep telehealth coverage in place for the next two years.

President Trump and Elon Musk publicly opposed the continuing resolution, and GOP support for the bill quickly died. But a last-minute act by Congress gave telehealth coverage life by extending the deadline to March.

Now the clock is ticking.

Telehealth benefits everyone. Advancements in software, high-speed internet and remote connectivity technology have made it easier for physicians to reach patients and provide important medical attention. It saves money and opens access to quality care for all.

The federal government has a role to play in making sure patients continue to benefit from virtual medicine. There’s no better model of efficiency — the very platform of the Trump administration — than telehealth, which has proven to be a cost-effective solution.

Expanded coverage for telehealth has transformed the way patients across America receive medical support. If it goes away, millions of Americans stand to lose. Congress can put an end to any doubt in the minds of an anxious nation by making it permanent.

Lyndon Haviland, DrPH, MPH, is a distinguished scholar at the CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy.

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