Coalition Letter Urging House Passage of “Telehealth Expansion Act”

By SBE Council at 31 October, 2023, 6:46 pm

The Honorable Mike Johnson

Speaker of the House

United States Capitol

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries

Minority Leader

United States Capitol

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries:

Thank you for your ongoing leadership in expanding access to virtual care and for your commitment to consideration of permanent telehealth access policies. We write today to encourage passage of the Telehealth Expansion Act of 2023 (S. 1001/H.R. 1843), which the House Ways & Means Committee
advanced on a bipartisan basis earlier this year.

We appreciate your leadership in December 2022 to ensure telehealth access was extended through the end of December 2024. We applaud the Committee for ensuring this included a two-year extension of the CARES Act authority that allowed employers and health plans to provide coverage for telehealth services on a pre-deductible basis for the more than 32 million Americans with a high-deductible health plan coupled with a Health Savings Account (HDHP-HSA) through December 31, 2024. Congress must make this coverage permanent to ensure patient access does not lapse.

The Telehealth Expansion Act of 2023 is a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would ensure this critical telehealth flexibility continues on a permanent basis beyond the 2024 extension. In June, the House Ways & Means Committee advanced this crucial legislation and we write now to encourage the House to act as
well. This commonsense policy has helped ensure families could access vital telehealth services – including virtual primary care and behavioral health services – prior to having met their deductible. In fact, according to a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), about 96 percent of employers adopted pre-deductible coverage for telehealth services as a result of your leadership on telehealth.

The ability to offer pre-deductible telehealth services for employees is a meaningful expansion of health care access and is popular among consumers. Notably, according to unpublished estimates from EBRI, over 50 percent of individuals with an HSA live in zip codes where the median income is below $75,000 annually. Over the past three years, this flexibility also enabled important expansions of access to care for individuals who may otherwise have neglected essential care due to high out-of-pocket costs. Further, a survey by NORC and AHIP found that “73 percent of commercial telehealth users said Congress should make permanent the provisions that allowed for coverage of telehealth services before paying their full deductible.”

It is imperative that Congress act to make this policy permanent to ensure that the millions of Americans with employer-sponsored coverage do not lose access to this pre-deductible coverage of telehealth services. The undersigned organizations strongly encourage you to advance the Telehealth Expansion Act of 2023 to ensure individuals with HDHP-HSAs can continue to access virtual care services on a pre-deductible, permanent basis beyond 2024.

Sincerely,

98point6 Technologies
Active Minds
AiArthritis
AlediumHR
Allergy & Asthma Network
Alliance for Aging Research
Alliance for Connected Care
Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy
Alliance to Fight for Health Care
Alpha-1 Foundation
ALS Association
Amazon
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI)
American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work
American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
American Association of Suicidology
American Benefits Council
American College of Emergency Physicians
American College of Gastroenterology
American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)
American Physical Therapy Association
American Society of Echocardiography
American Telemedicine Association
American Urological Association
Americans for Prosperity
Amwell
Assisted Recovery Centers of America (ARCA)
Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness
ATA Action
AXYS, the Association for X and Y Variations
Bellin and Gundersen Health System
Bicycle Health
Billings Clinic
Brightline, Inc.
Business Group on Health
California Health Care Coalition
Cancer Support Community
Caregility
Center for Telehealth and eHealth Law
Centering Healthcare Institute
Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation
CLL Society
Coalition for Headache and Migraine Patients (CHAMP)
Colorado Hospital Association Broadband Services Consumer Technology Association
Convenient Care Association
CopilotIQ
Cromford Health
Curai Health
Cure CMD
Deerbrook Counseling Services
Dermatologist On Call
Digital Medicine Society (DiMe)
Directions in Independent living Compeer Program
Dogtown Media LLC
e-Facilis LLC
eMed
Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC)
Encounter Telehealth, Inc
eVisit
ExamMed
Face Haven Place PLLC
Fight Colorectal Cancer
FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered
FreedomWorks
Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA)
GenieMD, Inc
Gilda’s Club Kansas City
GO2 for Lung Cancer
Haystack Project
Hazel Health
HCU Network America
Health Action Council
Heartbeat Health
Hello Alpha
Hinge Health
HR Policy Association
HSA Coalition
Hydrocephalus Association
Identity Insights, LLC
IMPOWER
Included Health (formerly Doctor On Demand + Grand Rounds Health)
Indiana University Health
International Pemphigus Pemphigoid Foundation
Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans
Kohnlinq, Inc.
Let’s Talk Interactive
LifePoint
Lockton Companies
Maine Primary Care Association

Maryland Hospital Association
Melanoma Research Foundation
Mend VIP, Inc.
Mental Health America
Mercer
Michigan Neurological Association
Miles for Migraine
Modern Ritual Health
Monebo Technologies, Inc
Muscular Dystrophy Association
My Gene Counsel, LLC
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of Social Workers – NJ Chapter
National Taxpayers Union
Nemours Children’s Health
New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies, Inc.
NIM Longevity
Noma Therapy
Ochin
Omada Health, Inc.
Origin Healthcare
Oshi Health
Pandemic Patients
Partnership for Employer-Sponsored Coverage (P4ESC)
Partnership to Advance Virtual Care (PAVC)
PAs in Virtual Medicine and Telemedicine
Patient Access Network (PAN) Foundation
Pelago Health
Population Health Analytics Association Incorporated
PreciseMDX
Premise Health Employer Solutions
Primary Care Development Corporation
QueerDoc, PLLC
Reaching Out Counseling Services
Reconnect4Health
RxHomeTest
Senior Care Clinic House Calls
SHRM
SLC6A1 Connect
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council)
Society of Interventional Radiology
Soulful Recovery
South Carolina My Care Team
Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System
Spesana, Inc.
Spinal CSF Leak Foundation
SSM Health St Mary Medical Center
STXBP1 Foundation
Superficial Siderosis Research Alliance
Suquino, Inc
Susan G. Komen
Talkiatry
Talkspace
TECHMEDO
Teladoc Health
TeleMed2U
The Church Alliance
The ERISA Industry Committee
The University of Kansas Health System
TheraTec, Inc
Transcarent
U.S. Pain Foundation
University of Maryland Medical System
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)

Health System
URAC
UW Medicine
Verato
VerifiNow Inc
Vestibular Disorders Association
Virta Health
Vistas Pediatric and Family Mental Wellness
Vital Voice and Speech LLC
Voice Products, Inc.
Walmart
Welliti
Zipnosis