The Buckeye Institute submitted written testimony (download PDF) on March 10 to the Ohio House Insurance Committee on a bill that would permanently expand access to telehealth for all Ohioans.
In his testimony, Rea S. Hederman Jr., vice president for policy at The Buckeye Institute, “applauded the regulatory changes adopted by the Trump and DeWine administrations that increased access to telehealth care,” and noted that Buckeye has “encouraged broader use of telehealth for general medical care and mental health care.”
Highlighting the “years of research [that] demonstrate telehealth’s potential to improve access to care, lower costs, and increase flexibility for patients and providers,” Hederman stated that patients “ have experienced firsthand the value that telehealth provides and will be reluctant to see telehealth access restricted again.” This is particularly important given the “significant promise for helping rural and elderly patients.”
The testimony also pointed out the Trump Administration “made telehealth reforms permanent for federal health programs,” that people in Ohio should have “equal telehealth access to their healthcare providers,” and that Medicaid recipients could have “greater access to more care providers through telehealth than those with private health care coverage.”
Hederman urged the Ohio General Assembly to improve House Bill 122, a bill that will allow the state’s patients “to use telehealth technology to consult with doctors outside of Ohio,” and “can make permanent a more innovative access to health care that can better meet the needs of patients and providers.”
