New Bill Aims to Make Telehealth an Excepted Employee Benefit
Introduced in the House, the legislation would allow employers to offer standalone telehealth programs as a benefit separate from employees' medical health plans.
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By Anuja Vaidya
- A new bipartisan bill aims to enable employers to offer standalone telehealth programs — like dental and visions plans — in addition to traditional medical health plans.
Introduced in the US House of Representatives Thursday by Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Tim Walberg (R-MI), and Angie Craig (D-MN), the Telehealth Benefit Expansion for Workers Act would classify telehealth as an excepted benefit.
Further, it would amend the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to allow all employees, including part-time and seasonal workers, to receive the excepted benefit.
Per the bill, any standalone telehealth service offered by employers would remain separate from traditional medical plans.
"COVID-19 put a new emphasis on telehealth and showed how impactful and convenient it can be for working families to get care similar to an in-office nurses station," said DelBene in the press release. "Over the past two years, many employers have begun offering these telehealth services to their workforce. Even with many businesses returning to in-person work, we shouldn't be turning our backs on the benefits of telehealth. We're introducing the Telehealth Benefit Expansion for Workers Act so workers can continue receiving this care from the comfort of their homes and on their own schedule."
During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state legislation tore down telehealth restrictions to widen access to virtual care. But what happens to these regulations once the pandemic ends is unclear.
Though telehealth advocates secured a win with the inclusion of Medicare coverage flexibilities in the omnibus spending package passed last month, the legislation only extends the waivers until five months after the public health emergency is officially declared over.
Pressure has been building on Congress to pass legislation to make pandemic-related telehealth flexibilities permanent. Healthcare stakeholders have even formed coalitions to advocate for post-pandemic telehealth access.
"Throughout the pandemic, telehealth has proven to be a vital tool for Americans to receive timely and quality care from their own home," said Walberg in the press release. "For rural communities, in particular, telemedicine has helped remove barriers to care, expand access to specialists, and improve health outcomes."
The new bill joins several others in front of Congress, including the Telehealth Extension Act and the Telehealth Extension and Evaluation Act.
As Congress debates telehealth-related legislation, usage of the care modality remains high. A recent survey conducted by the American Medical Association shows that 85 percent of physicians still use telehealth to deliver care.
Similarly, 76 percent of patients who had received care virtually since last July said they would prefer to use telehealth in the future as well, another survey revealed.
In particular, behavioral health and substance use disorder patients are still using telehealth at high rates.
