HAMILTON, N.Y. — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) is urging lawmakers to extend Medicare’s telehealth program, which could expire at the end of the month without Congressional action.
Schumer discussed the matter during a recent visit to Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton in Madison County.
The senator said it is “critical” to avoid what he called the upcoming “telehealth cliff” for Central New York and Mohawk Valley seniors, noting it’s “especially important” to rural areas like Madison County to maintain this service for accessible health care.
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“Telehealth services are essential in places like Madison County; it is a lifeline for our rural areas and seniors who can’t easily travel to the doctor to get the healthcare they need and we can’t let it expire. That’s why I’m launching a push to avoid the telehealth cliff and save this lifeline for tens of thousands of seniors in Central NY and the Mohawk Valley,” Schumer said in the announcement. “We saw telehealth surge in use during the pandemic, and we should make sure that access to your doctor is as easy as picking up your phone. I was proud to help Medicare expand telehealth services during the pandemic, but we need to act quickly to preserve this program and ensure this lifeline isn’t cut off for our seniors come 2025.”
The senator went on to explain that during the pandemic, the federal government declared a public-health emergency that gave the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) flexibility to reimburse patients for expenses related to telehealth services and allowed providers to deliver audio-only health care services.
When the public health emergency officially ended last year, Schumer led efforts to pass legislation to extend those flexibilities that allowed CMS to cover telehealth appointments. However, that legislative authority will expire on Dec. 31 without Congressional action. This means that seniors could lose coverage for telehealth appointments, doctors could no longer provide audio-only telehealth services, and fewer providers will be able to receive reimbursement for telehealth services.
Schumer is pushing to have Congress extend the service for about 16,254 seniors in Madison County and 243,539 seniors across Central New York and the Mohawk Valley who are on Medicare.
He has about one month left as Senate Majority Leader but is expected to become Senate Minority Leader when Republicans take over the U.S. Senate, effective Jan. 3.
