30 Senators In Calling For Permanent Expansion Of Telehealth Following COVID-19 Pandemic

In a letter to Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) led a bipartisan group of 30 senators in calling for the expansion of access to telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic to be made permanent. Provisions from the Schatz-authored CONNECT for Health Act that have allowed Medicare beneficiaries in all areas of the country, and in their homes, to utilize telehealth services, as well as more types of health care providers to provide telehealth, were included in previous COVID-19 legislation but will expire following the pandemic unless congressional leaders act now to make those measures permanent.

The letter was also signed by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Doug Jones (D-AL), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Angus King (I-Maine), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Krysten Sinema (D-AZ), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jon Tester (D-MT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Tim Scott (R-SC), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Martha McSally (R-AZ), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Steve Daines (R-MT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Chris Coons (D-DE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Cory Gardner (R-CO).