S. 1261 · 119th Congress

Permanently expands Medicare coverage of telehealth services

Official title: CONNECT for Health Act of 20251

Never got a floor voteMedicare coverage of new tests and services

§1What it does

Why this matters: A plain-English description of the bill as it was voted on, written by us from the official summary and text.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

This bill would expand Medicare coverage of telehealth, or health care delivered remotely, including by permanently removing limits on where patients must be located and letting patients receive any covered telehealth service at home.2,3 It would permanently allow federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to provide telehealth services as the provider's location, and would let the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services generally waive telehealth coverage limits during any public health emergency.2 The agency would also have to publish information on telehealth use, costs and outcomes, give health professionals guidance on Medicare's telehealth requirements, and apply certain quality measures to telehealth services.2

§2Status

StatusLatest action, April 2, 2025: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.1
IntroducedApril 2, 2025
SponsorSen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI]
Cosponsors73 cosponsors (37 Republican, 34 Democratic, 2 independent)
Official recordS. 1261 on Congress.gov

§3It never got a vote

Why this matters: This bill had wide support from both parties, but it never reached the House or Senate floor, so no member of Congress was ever recorded voting for or against it.

Latest action, April 2, 2025: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.1 How bills die without a vote.

2026 candidates who sponsored or cosponsored it (17)