Subcommittees

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Last December, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report showing that since 2016, OIG has conducted 18 audits, which revealed Medicaid agencies improperly paid states nearly $289 million on behalf of deceased enrollees.

The audit outlined in HHS OIG’s report was conducted from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022. After reviewing a stratified random sample of 100 capitation payments from the nearly 410,000 capitation payments covered by the audit, HHS OIG found that Medicaid agencies paid for deceased individuals in 99 of the 100 sample capitation payments.

During that same one-year period, Medicaid paid over $207 million to insurance companies for people who had already died.

This is far from the first accounting of massive fraud found in our federal health programs. In July of 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) announced that they had identified and were removing 2.8 million duplicative enrollees in two or more Medicaid and/or Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange plans after conducting an analysis of 2024 enrollment data.

In September of 2025, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that Democrat policies have facilitated a years-long, massive cover-up to defraud American taxpayers in order to subsidize waste, fraud, and abuse in federal health programs, including using loopholes to provide free health care to illegal immigrants. The agency found that Democrat policies have led to at least 2.3 million fraudulent enrollees in Obamacare.

And most recently, in December, GAO conducted covert operations by creating fictitious identities with fake or never issued Social Security numbers (SSN) and still received taxpayer-subsidized Obamacare coverage. One hundred percent of fake applicants were approved by the ACA Marketplace in late 2024 and 90 percent of fake applicants received coverage in 2025. Experts estimate the federal government may be spending as much as $27 billion a year in taxpayer dollars on improper Obamacare enrollments.

Thanks to President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts signed into law on Independence Day last year, Republicans implemented commonsense guardrails to protect Americans and crack down on the Democrat-enabled waste, fraud, and abuse pervading our health care system.

Our law takes action to remove duplicative and deceased enrollees from the Medicaid rolls and prohibit states from paying multiple managed care organizations for wasteful, duplicative health care coverage. We believe that taxpayer dollars should be used to benefit our most vulnerable Americans.

To that end, the Committee has sent letters to state and federal officials requesting additional information on Medicare and Medicaid fraud. For example, the Committee opened an investigation into the massive fraud schemes in Minnesota's Medicaid programs; and just last week, our Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing exploring the egregious Medicare and Medicaid fraud schemes that are happening nationwide.

Over the past several years, Democrat Administrations have allowed waste, fraud, and abuse across the American health care system to explode, ultimately driving up costs, hurting American families, and draining taxpayer dollars. Republicans are committed to finding solutions that restore affordability, fairness, accountability, and the rule of law across our health care system.

Read the full report here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Morgan Griffith (VA-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, delivered the following opening statement at today’s hearing titled Lowering Health Care Costs for All Americans: An Examination of the Prescription Drug Supply Chain.

Subcommittee Chairman Griffith’s opening statement as prepared for delivery:

“First, I want to recognize the bipartisan bill that we were able to pass last week that included many important health care provisions and lowered health care costs for all Americans.

“Today, we will discuss health care costs and patient access challenges by examining affordability across the entire pharmaceutical supply chain.

“I’m proud of this subcommittee’s work, but there is still more to be done, which is why I am eager to continue building on our affordability series with today’s hearing that comes after we heard from insurance executives last month.

“We now will hear from stakeholders who are part of the complex pharmaceutical drug supply chain.

“To regular people, this system may seem simple: a disease is researched and a treatment is developed, then that treatment is manufactured and distributed to a hospital, pharmacy, or other health entity before it is dispensed to a patient.

“However, there are many more layers that are involved in this process that affect how a drug gets to a patient and how that drug is priced.

“One of the most frustrating aspects of the supply chain is that it operates in a blackbox.

“Luckily, we have witnesses here to provide their perspectives and shine a light on the process.

“Do each of these entities in front of us today play a role in getting the drug to a patient? Yes.

“Are there too many cooks in the kitchen at times? Probably so.

“Today is a great opportunity for Congress to get a glimpse and see what is happening, and look for ways to help make prescription drugs more affordable.

“In 2017, this same subcommittee held a hearing similar to this one.

“A lot has changed since then.

“I am glad we are reexamining what we learned from that hearing to continue working towards what we all want: lowering costs for patients while ensuring that America remains a leader in pharmaceutical innovation.

“We have PhRMA and BIO in front of us who can speak to the intricacies that go into researching, developing, and pricing a drug on the market.

“We will also get the perspective of generic drugs from the Association for Accessible Medicines who can speak on the issues in that area.

“We also have the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association here who is the trade association that represents pharmaceutical benefit managers, or PBMs.

“In theory, PBMs manage prescription drug benefits for insurance companies, employers, and others.

“What we heard in our hearing last month is that insurance companies own many PBMs.

“The largest three insurance owned PBMs control over 80 percent of the market.

“How they manage these benefits is a mystery and can lead to higher drug prices.

“However, just last week, led by Representative Buddy Carter from Georgia, Congress passed and the President signed into law the biggest PBM reform package in history.

“These bills will bring more transparency into this system, lower costs, and allow for more access to medicines.

“The Healthcare Supply Chain Association is here on behalf of Group Purchasing Organizations, or GPOs, which act as intermediaries between manufacturers and providers.

“In front of us is also the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, who is involved in the distribution of prescription drugs along the supply chain.

“I am looking forward to hearing from the National Community Pharmacists Association who is before us today as well, since they represent community pharmacists.

“These community pharmacies serve a critical role in bringing care to patients, especially in rural areas; yet, many have had to sadly close their doors in recent years due to factors we will discuss today.

“The ERISA Industry Committee is also here to discuss their point of view for employers when it comes to high costs, as well as decisions they make based on those costs.

“Each of these different entities play a unique role in how a drug finally gets to a patient.

“In this meeting, we will hear from these witnesses on how to navigate this complex web on behalf of the American people.

“I look forward to the discussion.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman John James (MI-10) celebrated House passage of legislation advanced by the Committee on Energy and Commerce to strengthen America’s energy supply chains, reduce reliance on adversarial nations, and safeguard the resources essential to our economy and national security.

H.R. 3617, the Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply Act, requires the Department of Energy to assess critical energy resource supply chains, including critical minerals and rare earth elements, and to strengthen supply chains that are vulnerable to disruption or overreliance on adversarial nations. By taking a holistic view of critical energy resources, the Department of Energy can identify vulnerabilities and address supply chain disruptions to help ensure Americans have access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy systems.

“Keeping our nation strong and secure means having access to reliable and affordable energy. Right now, the technologies that power our grid rely on critical minerals produced and controlled by adversarial nations,” said Chairman Guthrie. “To address this crucial issue, the House passed the Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply Act, which strengthens the Department of Energy’s support for critical energy resource supply chains, which are vital to keeping the lights on for American families and powering U.S. industrial facilities. Thank you to Congressman James for his leadership on this important legislation.”

“This bill is a bold step toward ensuring the United States leads in energy innovation, security, and independence, and I’m thrilled to see it pass the House. We cannot be the ‘land of the free’ if we choose to rely on critical mineral supply chains that are dependent on child and slave labor,” said Rep. James. “This is about unleashing American energy, powering our factories, fueling innovation, and securing our future. It’s a massive step towards building an energy-independent America and putting an end to overreliance on adversaries, dictators, and despots around the world.”

BACKGROUND:

Energy supplies are the linchpin to U.S. global leadership in next generation technologies and industries, job growth in communities across the country, and a robust defense industrial base.

Despite vast domestic natural resources, the United States remains heavily reliant on foreign adversaries for critical energy resources that are essential to our economic and national security:

• The U.S. is 100 percent reliant on imports for 16 critical minerals and 50 percent import reliant on an additional 50 vital mineral commodities;
• China maintains 60 percent of the world’s production of rare earth elements and 90 percent of their global processing capacity.

In recent years, adversarial nations like China have sought to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities, issuing export bans on key minerals, materials, and resources that are essential to both our manufacturing and defense industry.