In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Donald Trump and Congress put into place a program that allowed people on Medicare to get their health care over the Internet.

The policy proved wildly popular. Nearlyhalf of Medicare beneficiariesreceived telehealth services in 2020 in an effort to keep their distance from hospitals and doctor’s offices during the pandemic.

But the program is set to expire Sept. 30 without Congressional action, which would leave millions of seniors suddenly unable to access the telehealth care that allowed them to avoid long drives and crowded waiting rooms. The program has been threatened before—Congresshad to extend itin 2021, 2022, 2023, and in March 2025—but telehealth advocates say that they have little hope that the program will be saved in time for services to avoid disruption.

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“People are going to go to sleep tonight having had telehealth coverage since the beginning of the pandemic—and most of them have used it one way or another,” said Kyle Zebley, the executive director of ATA Action, the advocacy arm of the American Telemedicine Association, on Sept. 30. “They will wake up in the morning not having that coverage.”

Two of those people are Dan and Doreen Nishimi, who are 82 and 78 res