Editor:
I am a 76-year-old man living in Arcata. I have Social Security, Medicare and a supplemental medical policy. I have had a complicated form of heart tachycardia for a long time. My medications had stopped working and I had to go to Santa Rosa for an ablation. My preliminary appointment was via telemedicine. I was able to meet the cardiologist, discuss my procedure, schedule, and take care of all necessary details. It was a covered visit, $151.52 paid for by Medicare. My copay was $38.65. I had the procedure in June and when my follow-up appointment approached, I found that, as of Oct. 1, Medicare no longer covers telehealth visits. This telemedicine office visit would cost me, as an individual, $656. I had to drive four hours each way for a fifteen-minute office visit. The doctor still spent the same amount of time with me. There were no savings for anyone. The only purpose I can see for this change is to burden seniors like me with extra expenses, danger while driving and general disruption of our lives. With millions of Americans in the same situation as me, it is inevitable that people will die, and others will be seriously injured as a result of this cruel and unjustified change to Medicare. This needs to be fixed.
Michael Van Devender, Arcata
This article appears in Halloween.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is the first I’ve heard of this. (And I’m saddened how this is negatively affecting you and so many other people.) I found this on the Medicare website “Medicare covers more telehealth services if you live in a rural area and you go to an office or medical facility that’s also in a rural area (in the U.S.) for your telehealth visit. ” Also “We define the following areas as rural: Non-metropolitan counties. Outlying metropolitan counties with no population from an urban area of 50,000 or more people.” And last, “Humboldt County is generally considered a rural or mostly rural area for various federal and state health program purposes, including those relevant to Medicare and related health initiatives.” It requires a deeper dive into what’s actually covered.