Demand Medicare Extend Funding for Full Telehealth Services by Dec 18, 2024
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must provide indefinite funding and support for telehealth services for everyone.
Telehealth services have been invaluable to communities especially those with limited access to care. But Congress has not acted enough to extend financial support for telehealth services beyond December 2024 for people with Medicare or Medicaid through The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). As a result, beginning on January 1, 2025, many people will lose access to most telehealth services. Insurance companies will likely follow suit, resulting in many more millions of Americans losing access to this important type of care.
Ending telehealth access will force disabled, terminally-ill, high risk, immunocompromised people into in-person visits for services that absolutely don’t require in-person exams. This will force terminally ill and high risk and immunocompromised people to get mental health services only on-site. This ultimately affects people in rural communities who face either long distances or other challenges traveling to appointments. Telehealth access changed healthcare for the better, narrowing the gaps in health disparities between different populations.
There has been ongoing bipartisan support in Congress for extending telehealth services through CMS, specifically a committee of the House of Representatives passing a bill to extend it. Join us in urging more members of Congress to extend funding for all current telehealth services from CMS by December 18, 2024. Tell Congress: make telehealth funding permanent.
You can submit a letter to your members of Congress both the House and the Senate via our Action Network or contact members Congress using their contact information, keeping our letter in full or editing it as you wish. Please personalize your letter. Letters to elected officials are most effective when they start with a brief personal comment (a sentence or two) about why and how telehealth services have been important as a type of healthcare service to you, your loved ones, and your community.
Letter Template
I urge you to act today to extend funding telehealth services via Medicare and Medicaid. Telehealth services must not end on December 31, 2024. Telehealth service should be a permanent option for all patients, and covered by all insurance, first and foremost Medicare and Medicaid.
Nearly 80% of all people have accessed telemedicine once in their lives.39% of all US adults had a telemedicine encounter in 2022. Over 67 million older adults will lose invaluable and convenient access to healthcare services. Nearly 20% of all Americans reside in rural or frontier regions. Rural Americans benefit from immediate access to healthcare services that telehealth provides. Telehealth services affect everyone and have received support from political leaders from all viewpoints. Already, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted in full support to approve a two-year extension of telehealth policies in the Medicare program. We need the full House of Representatives and the Senate to sign their policy into law.
In summary, we ask that:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) must provide indefinite financial support for existing telehealth services.
The telehealth program at Medicare should continue to adopt policies that ensure accessible access to healthcare services through different modes of communication.
I appreciate your time and consideration of this important matter!