A number of recent Congressional hearings have focused on health policy issues, including: 

  • Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearings on laboratory testing in the era of precision medicine, and the safety of cosmetics.
  • A House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Treating the Opioid Epidemic: The State of Competition in the Markets for Addiction Medicine.”
  • House Oversight Committee hearings on Affordable Care Act premium increases, EpiPen pricing, and waste and improper payments in federal program.
  • A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on “right to try” laws to provide access to investigational treatments for terminally ill patients.
  • A Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Food and Drug Administration’s role in the generic drug marketplace.

On September 23, the House Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing on the inactivation of dangerous pathogens in bioresearch laboratories, and on September 27 the panel will examine expanded access to investigational therapies (subsequently postponed).  On September 28, the House Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a hearing on health care fraud investigations.