Telehealth Now, and Our Priorities for Coming Year

By Vin Gopal

Senator Vin Gopal

As a busy year in the State Legislature winds to a close, our bill to extend coverage for telemedicine and telehealth is nearing final approval.

The legislation would extend to July 1, 2026, the requirement that a health benefits plan in this state must cover healthcare services delivered through telemedicine or telehealth and reimburse providers at the same rate paid for in-person visits.

Telehealth proved its value during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be a great tool for ensuring everyone who is covered by health insurance in New Jersey can see a doctor. Many residents, especially seniors and people with mobility problems, have transportation issues that make it difficult to get to a doctor’s office. Our bill, sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblywomen Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul, would ensure they can meet virtually with their healthcare providers without fearing that their insurance won’t cover it.

The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee and the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee have passed the bill and we’re optimistic it will reach the governor’s desk before the end of the year.

Ensuring that all residents can access the healthcare they need has been and will continue to be a top priority for the Legislative District 11 office, so, it is gratifying to report that other of our healthcare bills are moving forward.

We must ensure people can get to hospital when they have medical emergencies. To accomplish that we need to make sure we have enough volunteer first responders to man the local rescue and first aid squads and fire departments that New Jersey residents depend upon in an emergency.

As part of a package of bills we introduced earlier this year, our legislation to increase recruitment of volunteer first responders by enabling them to claim $2,000 gross income tax exemption is advancing in Senate committees.

We will continue to lobby in the legislature for our other bills to ensure healthcare access, including two introduced this year to ensure patients can get the medications and testing they need.

Our legislation calls for the reimbursement rate for prescription drug services paid to a pharmacy for a Medicaid beneficiary to be no less than the national average drug acquisition cost, plus a Medicaid fee-for-service of $10.92. The bill also provides that each Medicaid managed care contract in this State will include pharmacy choice as a required benefit.

We also will continue to push for coverage biomarker testing. This important innovation in cancer treatment can be used to match a person’s specific type of cancer with the most effective treatment. It can be life changing and life saving.

School funding also remains a top priority going into the new year and our legislation addressing how to do that is moving through senate committees. We have introduced legislation that proposes revisions to the state’s school funding formula aimed at making it more transparent, equitable, and predictable.

As always, your needs and ideas drive our agenda in the state legislature and we look forward to hearing from you and meeting you in the year ahead. Please never hesitate to contact us at SenGopal@njleg.org or (732) 695-3371 to share your ideas and get updates on legislation.

And special thanks to The Coaster for giving us the opportunity to speak to you each week through this column.

In the meantime, enjoy the holidays and we wish everyone a happy, healthy, and successful New Year.