With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress has made permanent the safe harbor allowing high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) to cover telehealth and other remote services before the deductible is met.
It may seem like a small technical change in a bill with other large implications for healthcare in the country, but it creates real, practical opportunity, especially for those dealing with high-cost health issues, such as cancer care. As a result, leaders should be rethinking their benefit plans.
With this safe harbor in place, employers now have the ability to change access, availability, and utilization of critical health services — especially for those with the highest financial and geographic barriers to care.
About 50% of private-sector employees are enrolled in HDHPs, with median deductibles around $2,750. That’s a meaningful share of household savings (median: $8,000), and for many, it exceeds what they have available.
We also know that cost-sharing reduces care-seeking, particularly for preventive services. People delay or skip screenings, risk assessments, and follow-up care. This isn’t because they don’t need them, but because they can’t afford them upfront.
That includes many who are:
- Less likely to engage with the health system early, and therefore more likely to delay care
- More likely to become high-cost claimants due to late-stage diagnosis or avoidable complications
- More likely to reside in rural areas — rural employees are more likely to elect HDHP options than their urban counterparts — where healthcare access has been worsening over the last decade, especially cancer care
As cancer rates are rising in younger populations, we now have the infrastructure to deliver high-impact (on outcomes and costs) parts of cancer care services virtually, without requiring in-person visits. This includes services like risk assessments, screening, diagnostic follow-ups to screening, nutrition consults for those in treatment, symptom checks and more.
This small policy change has effectively created a significant opportunity for a lot more low-cost access for employees in HDHPs, and ensures employers can actually consistently roll out a cancer care strategy across their full employee population on their plans.
Virtual care models are also more cost effective to employers and the system: no brick-and-mortar facility costs, productivity savings for employees not having to travel/take time off work; more efficient clinical visits; etc.
Telehealth-enabled cancer care isn’t a stopgap. It’s a practical, scalable approach that employers can use to take control of cancer with more available, utilized and cost-effective care.
The policy is now permanent. The opportunity is in how we choose to use it.