Waiving Medicare Cost-share for Telehealth Visits

Question:

I heard that Medicare patients don’t have to pay their deductible or coinsurance if they have a telemedicine visit. Is this true?

Answer:

Medicare is not waiving deductibles or co-insurance. However, they are allowing providers to do so at their discretion without penalty for telemedicine visits. This means the provider will only be reimbursed what Medicare pays, if the provider chooses to waive the patient portion of the visit. Many payors are waiving cost-sharing for telemedicine visits. See Payor Telehealth Policies for more information.