With the new United States Congress now sworn in and Committee assignments solidified, different priorities are starting to become news. As has been the case in recent months, health care has taken a center stage.
Senate Finance Committee
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has laid out his agenda for the 116th Congress, reflecting his wishes to “build on past successes, protect consumers and patients and improve the quality of life for all Americans.”
In his statement, Grassley noted his bipartisan health care record, highlighting his work on Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid policies. Grassley also made mention of some of the accomplishments in health care during the 115th Congress,
During the 115th Congress, bipartisan health care legislation I worked on included making over-the-counter hearing aids available, reimbursement policies for disadvantaged rural hospitals and several policies to address the nation’s opioid crisis. As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I will continue that tradition of working on health care in a bipartisan manner. Key priorities will include lowering prescription drug costs, increasing quality of care for seniors, addressing rural health care needs and conducting rigorous oversight health care sector and executive federal health care agencies.
With respect to his policy objectives in the current 116th Congress, Grassley would like to see prescription drug prices lowered, access to prescription drugs increased, Medicare Part D strengthened and modernized, rural health care access increased, and ensuring hospital payment programs are effective.
Grassley also noted that he will maintain his diligent oversight of the public and private sectors of health care, “including addressing health care consolidation and anticompetitive concerns, from supply chain middlemen to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to hospitals and health insurers. I’ll work to ensure that anti-fraud statutes are enforced, which is important in the discussion of payment for coordination of care, and closely evaluate potential changes to Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).”
The portion of his statement regarding health care closed out with his plan to conduct oversight of federal agencies, especially focused on research integrity at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Accrediting Agencies for hospitals and nursing homes, Affordable Care Act programs to inform future legislative debates and ensure transparency and accountability, the 340B program, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with a focus on drug shortages, generic approvals and teenage vaping.
Senate HELP Committee
The Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Lamar Alexander, has also mentioned building on prior years’ work. During last year’s sessions, the HELP Committee held a series of hearings focused on health care costs, including how to eliminate excess spending and improve quality and value for patients, decrease administrative spending, and improve affordability through innovation.
This year, Chairman Alexander plans to focus on how to reduce health care costs overall and also engage in oversight of the two big opioid packages that passed Congress in 2016 and 2018.
Conclusion
Both sides of the political aisle have been concentrated on drug costs and healthcare costs since before the 2016 election. As each side typically has different ideas of what the problems are and how to resolve them, with our current Congress split (Democratic House and Republican Senate), it will be interesting to watch what legislation gets passed and signed by President Trump.