It will likely be a slow healthcare week in Washington, DC. The House is out of session this week, and while the Senate is in session, most of its attention will be on immigration-related hearings, pending nominations, and floor action on housing legislation. The Senate Special Committee on Aging will hold a hearing on China’s influence on the drug supply chain, continuing the committee’s focus on the supply chain issues and seniors’ access to medications. The Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth will hear from Congressional Budget Office Director Swagel and Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget President MacGuineas about the US fiscal outlook for 2027 – 2036. The hearing could include healthcare discussion.
Additional congressional hearings may be announced for next week. More hearings likely will be scheduled to discuss healthcare affordability and oversight, two areas of focus for congressional Republicans. The House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees have been holding an affordability hearing series. Both committees heard from health insurance executives in January, and the Energy and Commerce Committee hosted pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and providers in February. The next hearing in this series could include hospital executives. Many congressional committees have also held oversight hearings on fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs, particularly Medicaid. We expect that trend to continue as soon as next week.
The president’s budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2027 may be released later this month. The request signals key priorities for the administration, and its release is always highly anticipated. While the request is a blueprint for Congress to consider as it works on funding federal agencies for FY 2027, appropriators are not required to follow what is in the document.
In this week’s Healthcare Preview, Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock join Erin Fuller to discuss the Trump administration’s recent actions on combatting fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid, and what we are watching for on healthcare policy in Congress.
