Protecting Medicare

 

June 27, 2022

Thank you for contacting me regarding Medicare expansion. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue, and I welcome the opportunity to respond to your concerns.

As the Member of Congress who represents the largest senior population in the Commonwealth, it has always been my priority to protect and preserve Medicare. Since first being elected, I have introduced and supported several bills to improve and expand healthcare access, including  H.R. 1976, the Medicare for All Act of 2021. With so many Americans uninsured or underinsured during the pandemic, the Medicare for All Act of 2021 would create a national health insurance program to provide comprehensive benefits to every American, covering all medically necessary services and items, including hospital services, prescription drugs, mental health and substance abuse treatment, dental and vision services, and long-term care.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when the importance of healthcare access was only further underscored, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) temporarily expanded access to telehealth services, allowing Medicare beneficiaries to receive healthcare services from home and reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Since the pandemic, many have now come to rely on telehealth. 

To prevent Medicare’s temporary expansion of telehealth services from expiring, I am a cosponsor of H.R. 1332, the Telehealth Modernization Act and H.R. 366, the Protecting Access to Post-COVID–19 Telehealth Act of 2021. These bills would extend flexibilities authorized during the pandemic, including the suspension of originating site restrictions to allow patients' homes to serve as the originating site and federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to serve as the distant site. Telehealth has proven not only to be cost-effective and efficient, but also to help close gaps in Medicare access by making quality healthcare more accessible to more Americans. 

Please be assured that I will continue to fight to protect and strengthen access to Medicare in the 117^th Congress . Should any of these bills or similar legislation come before the full House of Representatives for a vote, I will be certain to keep your thoughts in mind.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future regarding this or any other matter of concern. Additionally, you may find my website ( www.keating.house.gov ) to be a useful resource for keeping up with my work in Washington and the Ninth District of Massachusetts. I look forward to hearing from you again.

Sincerely,

William R. Keating
Member of Congress