Government shutdown could end Medicare telehealth and hospital-at-home coverage

Lauren Weber and Trisha Thadani report for the Washington Post that the government shutdown could mean an end to Medicare telehealth services as well as Medicare coverage of hospital-at-home care. While most Medicare coverage continues with a government shutdown, telehealth and hospital-at-home services are separately funded, and Congress could refuse to have Medicare continue to cover them.

Congress is responsible for authorizing Medicare coverage of video health care visits or this telehealth coverage will end. Physicians and hospitals will need to know that Medicare will cover these services or they will stop providing them. Termination of telehealth services would undermine access to care for some of the most vulnerable people with Medicare.

Telehealth services are extremely popular among older adults and people with disabilities with Medicare. In 2024, nearly seven million people with traditional Medicare received telehealth services.

People in rural areas, for whom Medicare has covered telehealth services since before the Covid-19 pandemic, would retain their Medicare telehealth coverage.

Without a Congressionally authorized extension, Medicare coverage of hospital-at-home care will also end with the government shutdown. This benefit allows some hospitals to treat patients directly in their homes, as if they were still hospital inpatients. More than 30,000 people with Medicare are covered through this benefit. With the government shutdown, hospitals are likely to discharge patients they were caring for at home or transport them back to the hospital.

The hospital-at-home program is still relatively small. Without a long-term Congressional commitment to Medicare coverage of the program, it’s unlikely more hospitals will opt ot provide at-home care in lieu of inpatient hospital care.

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