By Daisy Brown, Legislative Liaison
Telehealth includes health services provided via video or phone, replacing in-person services such as doctor’s visits, psychotherapy, and more. Medicare began offering telehealth for all Part B enrollees during the COVID-19 pandemic, but as reported in our February issue, the government revoked that benefit on January 31st of this year. However, that change was short-lived, as the funding bill passed to end a four-day government shutdown this February included a provision that extends the service through the end of 2027.
Now, it falls on Congress and the administration to find a more permanent solution. Telehealth is widely popular, and according to the American Medical Association (AMA), that’s for good reason. In a December 2025 brief titled The Case for Permanent Telehealth Policy and Expanded Access to Virtual Care, the AMA cites data showing patients are 64 percent more likely to complete telehealth appointments versus in-person doctor’s visits, that telehealth reduces total medical spending by 3 to 4 percent, and reduces burnout among healthcare professionals—who are often spread thin amidst national shortages of nurses and doctors.
Luckily, Congress already has a bill in motion that would secure the future of this important benefit. The CONNECT for Health Act of 2025, proposed in the House of Representatives by Representative Mike Thompson (CA-04), would make telehealth coverage under Medicare permanent. It would remove geographic restrictions on who can use telehealth, allow more providers to deliver telehealth services, repeal requirements for in-person doctor’s visits to start telehealth services for mental health, and expand the availability of telehealth during public health emergencies.
The bill is a great model, but unfortunately, it’s unlikely to pass Congress. GovTrack, a nonpartisan website that publishes the status of federal legislation and voting records, gives the CONNECT for Health Act a 0 percent chance of passing into law based on when it was introduced and expected voting patterns among Congress. It may seem wild that Congress would fail to pass common-sense legislation for both patients and health systems, but trusting them to work together and do their jobs is getting harder and harder.
So, what can we do? Threaten Congress’s job security. We, as seniors, America’s most active voting bloc, need to let our representatives know that their support for making the expansion of telehealth permanent will be an important consideration in how we vote. If they don’t do what we want, which is already what’s best for both us and the country at large, they need to understand it might cost them their jobs.
In other words, get out there and make your voice heard. At TSCL we often encourage people to write or call the offices of their Congressional Representatives and Senators, and that’s because these calls matter. Our voices can change minds, encourage our representatives to conduct research to verify what they’re hearing from us, and shape our country’s laws, even if it’s just a little bit at a time. So again, we ask you: Please reach out to your representatives and tell them that securing permanent telehealth expansion will be a top priority in how you vote, not just in this year’s midterms but also in the 2028 presidential election.