One of the few benefits growing out of the COVID-19 pandemic was temporary emergency rules allowing Medicare patients to see their doctors from home by telephone or computer.
However, unless Congress acts soon, this will no longer be available for most Medicare patients in 2025.
The emergency rules protected patients and doctors from exposure to a virus that was especially dangerous for older people.
But telemedicine turned out to have other benefits.
My wife and I are both on Medicare.
Our family is a handy example of the problems that will be caused if we can't use telemedicine.
The possibility of telephone or computer visits with a doctor did not require anybody to use them, and I have always gone in person.
But I was happy that virtual visits were an option.
My wife, on the other hand, has found telemedicine incredibly valuable. She has two chronic conditions requiring specialized care not always available even in a fair-sized city like Corvallis Oregon where we live.
One of these conditions requires an annual appointment with a specialist at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland, about 90 miles north of Corvallis.
Now in our mid-80s, we were still able to drive up to Portland for that annual consultation before the pandemic came along.
But we were finding driving that far to be less and less feasible.
When the pandemic hit, we were delighted to visit this Portland specialist via computer from our Corvallis home.
The testing required prior to the visit was readily available nearby, and the results were sent electronically up to Portland.
We saved hours, coping with Portland's notorious traffic, several gallons of gasoline, and wear and tear on our car.
Our tele-visits have been just as satisfactory as our previous in-person visits to Portland.
My wife's other chronic condition requires frequent blood work, which can be easily be done here in town, and consultation with a different specialist.
This expert is based in Eugene, Oregon, about 50 miles south of Corvallis, but comes to a branch office here once a week.
However, since he is here only once a week, appointments are hard to get, and we need one every month or two. Once again telemedicine has proved immensely helpful.
They use the doctor's time more efficiently, and we have never had to drive to Eugene to talk with him for 20 minutes.
We can live with it if Congress does not restore Medicare's coverage of telemedicine visits. But not all people on Medicare would be able to continue getting the treatment they need.
There are other reasons why Congress should act here.
A national priority is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide our cars pump into the atmosphere, and traveling to medical appointments contributes a significant amount of that gas to our national output.
Many older couples needing out of town doctor appointments might need a younger family member or friend to drive them, requiring the chauffeur to give up valuable work or schooling time.
This would be a very inefficient way to conduct our business.
When I was a young boy, doctors were still making house calls, which was a great convenience. But doctor's visits to private homes later, for the most part, disappeared.
They were not an efficient use of doctor's time.
Computers and the internet now allow the equivalent of house calls, without requiring doctors to spend scarce time traveling from home to home.
Congress is currently considering legislation that would extend Medicare coverage of tele-visits for two more years. This would be a desirable first step.
But Congress ultimately should make Medicare tele-visits permanent. Failure to do so would be political malpractice.
Paul F. deLespinasse is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Computer Science at Adrian College. He received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1966 and has been a National Merit Scholar, an NDEA Fellow, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a Fellow in Law and Political Science at the Harvard Law School. His college textbook, "Thinking About Politics: American Government in Associational Perspective," was published in 1981. His most recent book is "The Case of the Racist Choir Conductor: Struggling With America's Original Sin." His columns have appeared in newspapers in Michigan, Oregon and other states. Read more of his reports — Click Here Now.