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H.R. 6644: To require group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual health insurance coverage to provide coverage for services furnished via telehealth if such services would be covered if furnished in-person during the COVID-19 emergency.

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About the bill

Digital checkups and physicals are becoming the new normal during this “shelter at home” period.

Context

With most physicians’ offices shut down for in-person visits during the covid-19 pandemic, many Americans have had to rely on virtual “telemedicine” visits with their doctors, either by video conference or by phone.

March’s $2 trillion CARES Act and other recent executive branch orders have changed a number of provisions related to telehealth. These include improving Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates for telemedicine visits, and now allowing physicians to prescribe controlled substances such as state-legal medical marijuana over telemedicine.

What the bill does

The Health Care at Home Act would establish several reforms to last as long as the official federal covid-19 emergency declaration:

  • require that health insurance plans cover all “medically necessary ...

Sponsor and status

Photo of sponsor Kim Schrier

Kim Schrier

Sponsor. Representative for Washington's 8th congressional district. Democrat.

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Read Text »
Last Updated: Apr 28, 2020
Length: 6 pages
Introduced
Apr 28, 2020
116th Congress (2019–2021)
Status

Introduced on Apr 28, 2020

This bill is in the first stage of the legislative process. It was introduced into Congress on April 28, 2020. It will typically be considered by committee next before it is possibly sent on to the House or Senate as a whole.

Prognosis
4% chance of being enacted according to Skopos Labs (details)
Source
Congress.gov

History

Apr 28, 2020
 
Introduced

Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber.

Read Text »

If this bill has further action, the following steps may occur next:
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Passed Committee

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Passed House

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Passed Senate

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Signed by the President

H.R. 6644 is a bill in the United States Congress.

A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.

Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number H.R. 6644. This is the one from the 116th Congress.

How to cite this information.

We recommend the following MLA-formatted citation when using the information you see here in academic work:

“H.R. 6644 — 116th Congress: To require group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual health insurance ...” www.GovTrack.us. 2020. September 24, 2020 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr6644>

Where is this information from?

GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.