President Trump signed an executive order boosting access to healthcare in rural areas by extending an emergency authority on telehealth benefits, making permanent temporary measures introduced during the coronavirus pandemic.
The order announced by Trump in a news conference at the White House on Monday would support wider access to healthcare. In a call preceding the announcement, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar called the move a “lifeline” for people in the United States, particularly in rural areas.
“We can’t offer more access to telehealth, the argument goes, because it will just drive higher costs and more utilization,” said Azar, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, disputing the headwinds he said the White House had faced. “That isn’t how this administration looks at healthcare.”
A joint initiative with the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture would address broadband infrastructure needs, he added.
“Healthcare has caught up with the rest of the economy and how people interact, finally,” said Azar. “This fits together in the broader vision the president has of the patient being at the center of healthcare, with lower costs, more control, and more choice.”
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said that patients accessing telemedical care grew from some 13,000 per week to more than 10.1 million from mid-March to early July. She called on Congress to extend access to the measures across the entire country permanently, beyond just rural areas.
“Telehealth can never fully replace the gold standard of in-person care, but what it certainly can do is compliment in-person care by furnishing one more clinical tool,” said Verma. “That is something that Congress would need to change.”
The White House is also working to lower prescription drugs costs, a 2016 campaign promise. Trump signed four executive orders last month, one of which would tie drug prices to the costs paid by overseas countries, known as the “most favored nations” rules. Drug companies have criticized the decision.
Trump, on Monday, said he would meet with drug executives on Friday about the order on drug pricing, which he said may not need to be enacted pending an agreement to slash prices. A meeting last week was called off after pharmaceutical officials refused to meet.
