Telehealth services—such as video calls with doctors and medical advice via phone or email—are designed to make healthcare more accessible and convenient.

These services greatly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now they’re at risk of disappearing on Dec. 31, unless Congress passes the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024, which aims to make the expanded services permanent.

Importantly, this is a bipartisan effort, with co-sponsors from both parties.

As Dr. Judy Stone explains in a recent Forbes article, the expansion allowed patients to access specialty care from home. It has been especially beneficial for individuals in rural locations and those with disabilities.

“Expanded services also included physical and occupational therapy, emergency department visits, and nursing facility care via telehealth,” she writes. “This expansion provided care to Medicare’s 64 million enrollees and broadened pre-existing access for 76 million low-income Americans on Medicaid.”

The continuation of these services is crucial, as private insurers often follow Medicare’s lead. If the bill is not renewed, millions will lose access to telehealth services.

The Action Network is encouraging people to write their Congressional representatives to urge them to pass this Telehealth Modernization Act before the end of the year.

If you go to their website and fill in your name and address, their system knows who your elected representatives are and will generate and send the appropriate message to your Senators and Congressperson. You can customize your letter with personal details if you want to, but you don’t have to.

I just did this and it took less than a minute. I hope you’ll do it, too.

Click here to send your message.

TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, President of LymeDisease.org. She is co-author of Finding Resilience: A Teen’s Journey Through Lyme Disease and of When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.