A number of Congressional panels have held hearings recently on health care issues, including the following:
- The Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing entitled Surgeons for Sale? Conflicts and Consultant Payments in the Medical Device Industry“;
- The Senate Judiciary Committee met to consider “The False Claims Act Correction Act (S. 2041): Strengthening the Government’s Most Effective Tool Against Fraud for the 21st Century”;
- A number of Congressional panels have examined the Bush Administration’s proposed FY 2009 budget for HHS;
- The Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on “Health Care and the Budget: Information Technology and Health Care Reform”;
- The Senate Finance Committee held two days of hearings on marketing and sales practices of Medicare private plans, and the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee held a hearing to examine the structure, costs, and oversight of the Medicare Advantage program;
- The HELP Committee examined “Healthcare Workforce Issues for the Future”;
- The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on “Covering Uninsured Kids: Reversing Progress Already Made”;
- The House Small Business Committee reviewed the role of the Small Business Innovation Research Program in advancing medical breakthroughs”; and
- The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on “Myths and Facts about Human Growth Hormone, B 12, and Other Substances”.