On March 6, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) started work to revive a health package from December 2024, which would extend telehealth flexibilities for two years as well as other health-related extensions.

Attempts to include the package in the last continuing resolution was upended at the eleventh hour after concerns were raised by then President-elect Trump and Elon Musk about the overreach of the legislation.

The senators will be reintroducing the package and working towards unanimous consent to approve the health extenders as part of the next continuing resolution. In the House however, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) promised a “clean” continuing resolution and has a very slim majority in which to pass any continuing resolution. From media reports, the current House package includes policies to avert cuts to pay for doctors treating Medicare patients and extending Medicare telehealth waivers until September 30, 2025. As a reminder, the current continuing resolution runs through March 14, 2025, and the telehealth waivers expire March 31, 2025. If the waivers are not renewed, all waivers revert back to pre-COVID rules on April 1, 2025 and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been clear there are no flexibilities for winding down the policies.