As our elected officials drift back to Washington, D.C. to resume their bickering, let’s hope they can at least find bipartisan support for extending Medicare reimbursements for Telehealth appointments.
It may seem obscure to younger, healthier folks but the ability to meet with your doctor remotely is critical for people with limited mobility but multiple health challenges. In fact, this issue perfectly encapsulates why we need government in the first place.
Everybody gets old. Along with age comes health problems. Doctors will treat you but they need to get paid. Most of us are of limited means, and Medicare, to which we’ve been contributing our entire working lives, is the government insurance program that reimburses doctors for those services.
During the Covid crisis, as the Times has reported, “Medicare expanded its telemedicine coverage substantially in 2020, and the expansion has regularly been renewed. That could all have ended on Dec. 31.”
The Times details what happened next:
“Supporters of telemedicine, also called telehealth, endured some nail-biting days as Congress considered a continuing resolution to fund the government past year’s end. Included in the 1,500-page bill was a two-year extension for expanded Medicare coverage for telemedicine.
“Republicans had agreed to the resolution, but changed their minds after Elon Musk and Donald Trump condemned it. “That killed the bill,” said Kyle Zebley, senior vice president for public policy at the American Telemedicine Association.
“Finally, Congress approved a narrower version, a three-month extension. So telemedicine lives, at least until March 31.”
So now the viability of this option hangs in the balance as we wait for the new Congress to act. As one of the millions of patients who relies on Telehealth, this one is deeply personal to me. So as the heartless billionaires prepare to cut the government to shreds, let’s hope this one escapes their shredder.
HEADLINES:
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