Advancing Telehealth Beyond Covid-19 Act of 2021
Floor Speech
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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, one of my top priorities since I have been a Member of Congress has been to make sure that healthcare is accessible and available for all Americans. Telehealth has played a critical role for patients to access the care they desperately need.
On the Energy and Commerce Committee, we have been discussing the importance of telehealth flexibilities for years. It is bringing doctors right into families' living rooms and is an example of how innovation can improve and save people's lives.
As the coronavirus spread and providers closed their doors, patients and providers were forced to adapt and utilize telehealth services. Just months into the public health emergency, Medicare was receiving over a million telehealth visits a week, an almost 3,000 percent increase. Those without adequate transportation or in rural areas were still able to visit with their doctor.
While we have made great strides in making telehealth more broadly available, we know that Congress can do more. Increasing access to telehealth means increasing access to quality care for all patients.
I often discuss how, before the pandemic, we had a lot of regulations and red tape that piled up over the years. So while I will support this legislation, it is a shame that we did not take something as important as this through committee to make sure it could be the best possible product.
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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. Rodgers), the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Curtis), an important member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess).
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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson), another valuable member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao).
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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Again, let me be clear about my standing on this bill. I support this bill. We support telehealth. We are all in favor of telehealth, but we also support the fact that we have committees that this type of legislation needs to go through, and we missed an opportunity here to make this a better bill. That is simply what we are saying.
No one is saying they are not in favor of telehealth. Telehealth has become an integral part of our healthcare system during this pandemic. There is no question about that. All of us agree on that. It needs to be extended.
But, again, the committee process is exceptionally important, and we need to make sure that we follow that, particularly when we are talking about subject matter as important as this because it is important.
Again, since I have been a Member of Congress, I have been working to make healthcare accessible and available, and telehealth does just that. This is exactly what we want, but there are ways that we could have made this better.
One example is that we need to make sure there is no waste, fraud, and abuse. That is one thing that could have been tightened up in this legislation.
Another example is to make sure that we are not having any information that is inadvertently or intentionally being released. That is extremely important as well.
So again, there are ways that we could have made this legislation better if we had gone through the committee process, which is a process that is extremely important.
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