“Breaking news: The Trump administration just announced that Medicare will stop covering telehealth starting April 1. … We need to stand up to these Medicare cuts.”
Rep. Ro. Khanna (D-Calif.), in a TikTok video posted Feb. 20, 2025
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) posted a Tiktok video on Feb. 20 saying he had “breaking news” about the fate of Medicare coverage for telehealth visits, which allow patients to see health care providers remotely from their homes.
“Breaking news: The Trump administration just announced that Medicare will stop covering telehealth starting April 1,” Khanna said. “We need to stand up to these Medicare cuts.”
The same day, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services posted a document online titled “Telehealth” that said, “Through March 31, 2025, you can get telehealth services at any location in the U.S., including your home. Starting April 1, 2025, you must be in an office or medical facility located in a rural area (in the U.S.) for most telehealth services.”
CMS did not respond to requests for comment about the post. The White House also did not respond to requests for comment.
The telehealth benefit was first put in place as a temporary Trump-era addition to Medicare coverage during the covid-19 public health emergency.
Khanna’s statement took on more significance leading up to the threat of a government shutdown, but late last week Congress averted one by approving a stopgap spending bill.
The expiration date for the benefit has been known since December, when Congress extended coverage around telehealth through March 31. The roughly 90-day reprieve was part of a compromise after then-President-elect Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk criticized a sweeping, end-of-year legislative package that would have, among other things, continued those benefits for two years.
Their opposition forced Congress to pass a stripped-down version of the end-of-year bill. Telehealth’s two-year extension, included in the initial bill, became collateral damage.
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Last week, just as the clock was ticking down, House Republicans passed a spending bill for the rest of the fiscal year that includes another extension of telehealth flexibilities — this one lasting through September. The Senate then cleared the bill for Trump’s signature, with the support of 10 Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Regardless, the two-year extension proposed in December — or a permanent extension, as Khanna has …