Doctor’s Diary: Moving into the Stone Age, February 16, 2025

Moving into the Stone Age

With the recent change in the Washington, D.C. administration, older adults fear their health insurance through Medicare and personal finances through Social Security might be threatened.

A more drastic threat from Congress is that medical technology could push us back into the Stone Age, particularly concerning access to your doctor.

What if we were told groundline telephones would be the only tool for communication? The younger generations would have a fit if smartphones were banned.

With the pandemic declared over, using online telehealth communications to discuss healthcare with distant doctors crossing state lines is now illegal. Most of you don’t know this.

Well, here’s a new twist on returning to the Stone Age: Starting April 1, 2025, Medicare seniors will be unable to communicate online with their doctors, whether they are located in another state or within the same state.

Telehealth’s value during the pandemic was that it allowed greater access to specialty physicians and patients with mobility or transportation problems who could not get to their doctors. 

What if you were too ill post-surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation? You would not be able to discuss medical issues with your physician online as Medicare will not cover it, and indeed, as of April 1st, it would be a terrible April Fools joke. 

Congress must extend the laws allowing Medicare to pay for telehealth services, and I hope they will do their duty. 

But how many Congresspersons and Senators have their health insurance paid for by you, the taxpayer? Maybe senior voters from both sides of the aisle should advocate that if these representatives want us to continue paying their premiums, we should mandate that they get healthcare through Medicare!

That might keep us out of the Stone Age and allow the younger generations to continue being mesmerized by their smartphones!

Gene Dorio, M.D.

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