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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 24, 2023 09:21 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Christina D. Sappey |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Ensuring Telemedicine Access for Pennsylvanians |
| Telemedicine is vital for improving population health and patient outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic made the advantages of telemedicine even more evident. Telemedicine is now a lifeline for providing health care to patients—especially in rural parts of our state—while promoting public health practices that mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that do not require health insurers to cover telemedicine. This leaves Pennsylvanians exposed to the possibility that they may not be able to access timely and quality health care when they are sick, or that their care will cost too much. To address this disparity, I am reintroducing legislation that will provide for telemedicine service regulations and require health insurers to provide coverage for telemedicine services. This session’s legislation has been updated to remove outdated requirements related to the governor’s emergency declaration. It is my hope that you will join me in prioritizing the health and safety of communities throughout Pennsylvania by supporting this bill. Previous cosponsors of this bill, HB 642 of the 2021-2022 legislative session, included: Hill-Evans, Howard, Schlossberg, Kinsey, D. Williams, Ciresi, Galloway, Sanchez, Fiedler, Boback, Conklin, Driscoll, Sims, O’Mara, Bradford, Otten, Freeman, Madden, McClinton, Shusterman, Zabel, Guenst, Pisciottano, McNeill, Isaacson, N. Nelson, Frankel, Hohenstein, Harris, Gainey, Schlegel Culver, Deasy, Samuelson and Innamorato. |
Introduced as HB1512