Hearings

House Committee on Energy and Commerce: “Strengthening Our Health Care System: Legislation to Lower Consumer Costs and Expand Access”
Wednesday, March 6, 2019: The House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing on lowering consumer costs and expanding access to health care. Find a link to witness testimonies, member statements and the hearing live feed here.

Why this is important: Using testimonies from the states of Massachusetts and California as prime examples, the Health Subcommittee outlined how three pieces of legislation could incentive and aid states to create insurance exchanges. Republican members of the subcommittee were collectively against this addition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), while Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) asked that the subcommittee shift its focus to drug prices, much like a majority of other Congressional committees.

House Ways and Means Committee, Subcommittee on Health: “Promoting Competition to Lower Medicare Drug Prices”
Thursday, March 7, 2019: The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on lowering Medicare drug prices by promoting competition among manufacturers. Find a link to witness testimonies, member statements and the hearing live feed here.

Why this is important: Facilitating competition in health care markets to bring down drug prices is currently a popular topic in Congress. The hearing marked the first time since Democrats took control of the House that this panel has held a hearing on drug pricing issues. Among the topics discussed was legislation introduced by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), the health subcommittee’s chair, and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act (S.377) that would allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices by setting a price for a drug based on a number of market-based factors, such as clinical effectiveness and cost.

House Committee on the Judiciary: “Diagnosing the Problem: Exploring the Effects of Consolidation and Anticompetitive Conduct in Health Care Markets”
Thursday, March 7, 2019: The House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on the issue of anticompetitive conduct affecting health care markets. Find a link to witness testimonies, member statements and the hearing live feed here.

Why this is important: Members and witnesses criticized consolidation among hospitals and other healthcare sectors. According to the committee members, the public is told these deals will lead to improved efficiency and higher quality care, and those purported benefits frequently fail to materialize. The hearing grouped payer and provider consolidation with anticompetitive concerns about the pharmaceutical industry, topics that have gained interest from both parties.

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP): “Vaccines Save Lives: What is Driving Preventable Disease Outbreaks?”
Tuesday, March 5, 2019: The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing on the outbreak of preventable diseases and the debate on vaccinations. Find a link to witness testimonies, member statements and the hearing live feed here.

Why this is important: The hearing sought answers to the antivaccination movement that has led to a reduction in immunization rates in the United States. Unvaccinated individuals were cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the root cause of recent measles outbreaks in the state of Washington and in other regions across the country. There was consensus on the panel and amongst Members that the movement could become detrimental if it continues to grow.

Senate Finance Committee: “Not Forgotten: Protecting Americans from Abuse and Neglect in Nursing Homes”
Wednesday, March 6, 2019: The Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing on the issue of abuse and neglect in nursing homes. Find a link to witness testimonies, member statements and the hearing live feed here.

Why this is important: Chairman Grassley has a long history in performing oversight of nursing homes from his days as a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and as a member of the Senate Finance Committee. Senators on both sides of the aisle also raised concerns with the closure of rural nursing homes, which one expert testified could be exacerbated by low Medicaid pay rates, and Finance Committee ranking Democrat Ron Wyden (OR) raised concerns with CMS’ proposal to roll back emergency preparedness requirements.

Senate Committee on Aging: “The Complex Web of Prescription Drug Prices, Part I: Patients Struggling with Rising Costs”
Wednesday, March 6, 2019: The Senate Committee on Aging held two hearings.The first hearing on rising costs of prescription drug prices. Find a link to witness testimonies, member statements and the hearing live feed here.

Senate Committee on Aging: “The Complex Web of Prescription Drug Prices, Part II: Untangling the Web and Paths Forward”
Thursday, March 7, 2019: This hearing was the second of a two-part hearing on drug prices. Find a link to witness testimonies, member statements and the hearing live feed here.

Why this is important: The two-part hearing series held last week had the Senate Aging committee join the topic of lowering drug prices. Senate Aging Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) predicted that President Trump will have legislation on his desk late this year on the topic. Collins is considering legislation that would apply a proposed Medicare rebate policy to the commercial market, The Medicare proposal would ban rebates or make insurers subtract them from list prices when people buy drugs at the pharmacy. However, Senate Finance Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA), whose committee has jurisdiction over rebate legislation, said he is not yet ready to discuss rebate legislation.

Read more on healthcare policy on the McGuireWoods Consulting website.