Health

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), on behalf of the Health and Oversight Subcommittee Republicans, wrote to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra.  The letter outlines concerns with the role HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) plays—or fails to play—in investigating instances of sexual harassment that occurs at research institutions which receive grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  KEY EXCERPTS :  “There have been several public reports of sexual harassment occurring on NIH-funded research or NIH-supported activities over the last decade, and it raises concerns about what, if any, actions the NIH has taken to resolve these issues. The NIH’s own statistics show a significant problem with more than 300 cases related to sexual or gender harassment since 2018—with about a third of those allegations being substantiated. This also represents hundreds of men and women who may be forced to operate in a hostile or unsafe research environment.”  [...]  “According to the HHS website, OCR does investigate and resolve complaints of sexual harassment in the education and health programs of recipients of grants or other federal financial assistance from HHS—including the NIH. Moreover, HHS OCR is required to conduct periodic compliance reviews of institutional Title IX programs to ensure compliance with the law—including examining the way in which complaints are handled by the institution.”  The Chairs have requested answers to questions about HHS OCR’s role by April 30, 2024.  BACKGROUND :  Based on a recommendation from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), HHS OCR and the NIH adopted a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate communication between the two components of HHS as it relates to sexual harassment.   This MOU was intended to clarify procedures on how the enforcement arm of HHS and the grant-making arm share valuable information with one another in an effort to respond appropriately to complaints of sexual harassment and prevent federal grant money from going to those with a history of sexual misconduct.   TIMELINE OF INVESTIGATION :  August 10, 2021 : E&C Republican Leaders Question NIH’s Handling of Sexual Harassment Complaints  August 11, 2022 : E&C Republican Leaders follow up with NIH on Insufficient Response to its Letter on the NIH’s handling of Sexual Harassment  November 30, 2022 : E&C Republicans to NIH: Turn Over Previously Requested Information Ahead of New Congress  March 14, 2023 : E&C Republicans Press NIH for Information on Handling of Sexual Harassment Complaints  October 6, 2023 : E&C Republicans Signal Intent to Issue Subpoenas to Obtain Information on NIH’s Handling of Sexual Harassment if Questions Go Unanswered  January 26, 2024 : Chair Rogers notifies NIH of Imminent Subpoena  February 5, 2024 : Chair Rodgers Subpoenas NIH for Documents Related to Investigation into Sexual Harassment at NIH and NIH Grantee Institutions February 20, 2024: HHS Responds on behalf of NIH to offer a rolling in camera document review to the Committee. Documents produced in the review have been highly redacted, including the redaction of the names of individuals convicted of criminal offenses, public news articles about individuals who have been found guilty of harassment, and redaction of the names of the institutions where the abuse occurred—effectively preventing the Committee from understanding if NIH continues to fund work performed by substantiated abusers at other institutions—a practice known as “pass the harasser.”

Washington D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) delivered the following opening remarks at today’s Health Subcommittee hearing titled “Fiscal Year 2025 Department of Health and Human Services Budget.”  “I wish I could say this hearing is an exciting opportunity to learn more about President Biden and Secretary Becerra’s vision for how we can all work together to plow the hard ground necessary to improve the lives of the American people by addressing major issues such as the fentanyl crisis and rising health care costs. “I wish this budget contained bold, new ideas from the HHS Secretary on how to lower health care costs or at least prioritized implementation and enforcement of existing initiatives to lower health care costs. “Instead, what we have before us today, is a budget request that proposes more than $1.8 trillion in spending for fiscal year 2025 with misplaced priorities throughout. “It prioritizes spending $.25 trillion to large health insurance companies to subsidize insurance premiums rather than innovative proposals to lower the actual cost of health care. “It favors the pursuit of far-left priorities over implementation and enforcement of bipartisan health care laws, and it signals to the American people who are struggling under the weight of an overly expensive and complicated health care system, that help is not on the way from this administration.” UNRESPONSIVENESS & MISPLACED PRIORITIES “Secretary Becerra, this is the third time you have testified on an HHS budget before the Energy and Commerce Committee, and you have already testified before the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees this year. “If those are any indication, we will hear platitudes about lower drug prices, but nothing on what you have done to lower outrageous hospital bills and empower patients with the ability to know the price they will pay for care up front. “We will hear about what HHS is doing to address climate change, but not what HHS is doing to tackle the fentanyl crisis that is devastating communities and killing hundreds of Americans a day. “We will hear that ‘you’ll get back to us’—as we have seemingly countless times in the past—on questions of critical importance to the American people . “Secretary Becerra, I hope you prove me wrong.” OUTSTANDING INQUIRIES “Secretary Becerra, I’ll also raise a very disturbing lack of transparency from the NIH—a subagency under your purview—regarding sexual harassment at the agency and institutions it provides grants to—a very serious issue that this Committee has been investigating for almost three years. “At the direction of your department, Mr. Secretary, the NIH continues to obstruct the Committee and cover for individuals found to have committed sexual harassment or abuse at NIH-funded institutions, including many convicted of crimes. “You need to stop withholding critical information from this Committee, you need to stop protecting sexual abusers. The victims deserve full accountability and justice.” INFLATION IN HEALTHCARE “I’ll close with a somber reminder: rampant inflation is not behind us. “The latest reports showed that inflation remains persistently high, and it is compounding, making everyday expenses more and more difficult for American households. “Your failure to propose a responsible fiscal policy shows again how little this administration cares about inflation and the impact it has on everyday Americans. “You are quick to propose more reckless spending, without regard to how it will fuel the fire of increasing prices and then refuse to take any accountability for the harmful result. “I look forward to hearing from you on how you plan to address these concerns. I hope you prove my predictions wrong.”

Washington D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) delivered the following opening remarks at today’s hearing titled “Fiscal Year 2025 Department of Health and Human Services Budget.”  “Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here before us. Today we are here to examine the Fiscal Year 2025 budget request for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” BIDEN’S RECKLESS SPENDING IS HURTING EVERYDAY AMERICANS “Just last week, the monthly inflation data showed that year-over-year inflation increased by 3.5 percent in March. Instead of including policies to help everyday Americans, HHS’ budget request doubles down on the tax-and-spend policies that have cut Americans paychecks. “The budget request totals nearly $1.85 trillion, an over $100 billion increase over last year’s request. “Today we will hear the Secretary talk about why the budget doesn’t not lower health care costs and spends trillions in new dollars. This misses the mark. “The budget does little to address the costs of care for the average family of four with employer-sponsored insurance paid almost $24,000 in annual premiums in 2023, which represents a 22 percent increase in the average annual premium a family paid in 2018. “Just because someone has a health insurance does not mean they can afford health care.” MEDICARE PRICES ARE ON THE RISE THANKS TO THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION “Further, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, changes made by the mis-named Inflation Reduction Act will lead to 'substantially higher' premiums for seniors enrolled in a Medicare Part D drug plan next year. “This year seniors are paying an average of 21 percent more in Part D premiums with seniors in the five states seeing the highest levels of Part D use projected to pay upwards of 57 percent more in monthly premiums in 2024, including in California. “Those costs are likely to skyrocket even higher in 2025. Evidence suggests that these price controls are also leading to less research and development in critical research areas, undermining patient access to life-saving therapies. “Instead of working with House Republicans to find ways to ensure working class families can access the care they need at a price they can afford, the administration’s budget request doubles-down on more handouts for the wealthy by permanently expanding ACA insurance company subsidies and drug price controls, which would be paid for by raising taxes.” BURDENSOME OVERSIGHT AND REGULATION IS HURTING THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY “Additionally, this budget request furthers previous actions from the administration to impose burdensome and unnecessary oversight over nursing facilities and long-term care providers. “While I agree we ought to do as much as we possibly can to protect patient safety, this top-down approach will only place more strain on an already overrun part of our health care sector and reduce access to care for vulnerable patients. “These new proposals come on top of pending regulations that would establish minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities, costing Kentucky long-term care facilities $69 million annually just to come into compliance. “Regulations like these are being considered despite more than 500 nursing home closures across the country since 2020, as well as the industry significantly experiencing unprecedented workforce shortages.” SECRETARY BECERRA HAS REFUSED TO ADDRESS THE INFLUX OF DEADLY DRUGS AT OUR SOUTHERN BORDER “I am disappointed that the budget request does nothing to address the influx of illicit drugs, like fentanyl, coming across our border at a rapid rate. “In fact, the budget only mentions fentanyl once in a footnote despite Customs and Border Protection seizing nearly 10,000 pounds of deadly fentanyl at our Southwest Border in the first 6 months of Fiscal Year 2024. “We have policies that passed out of this very committee that I am disappointed were not included in this year’s budget request, such as the HALT Fentanyl Act and the Securing the Border for Public Health Act. “Both of these bills would give law enforcement, including our brave border patrol agents, with the tools to crack down on drug traffickers and keep these drugs off our streets. “I’m glad to see the HHS budget request $6 million for the Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers program, which I led in establishing in 2018. These recovery centers provide wrap around services for individuals seeking help to overcome substance use disorder.   “This was included in the SUPPORT Act Reauthorization, which just passed the House with a broad bipartisan vote. I look forward to working with the Senate to get the SUPPORT Act signed into law. “In closing, I believe it’s time for commonsense solutions to solve some of the most serious programs effecting American patients, especially the high costs of health care. “I urge the Biden administration to work with Congress to find bipartisan policies that can truly lower the costs of care, eliminate ineffective programming, reduce federal spending, and provide more choices for American patients by incentivizing, not stifling, innovation.”

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), on behalf of the Health and Oversight Subcommittee Republicans, wrote to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra.  The letter outlines concerns with the role HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) plays—or fails to play—in investigating instances of sexual harassment that occurs at research institutions which receive grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  KEY EXCERPTS :  “There have been several public reports of sexual harassment occurring on NIH-funded research or NIH-supported activities over the last decade, and it raises concerns about what, if any, actions the NIH has taken to resolve these issues. The NIH’s own statistics show a significant problem with more than 300 cases related to sexual or gender harassment since 2018—with about a third of those allegations being substantiated. This also represents hundreds of men and women who may be forced to operate in a hostile or unsafe research environment.”  [...]  “According to the HHS website, OCR does investigate and resolve complaints of sexual harassment in the education and health programs of recipients of grants or other federal financial assistance from HHS—including the NIH. Moreover, HHS OCR is required to conduct periodic compliance reviews of institutional Title IX programs to ensure compliance with the law—including examining the way in which complaints are handled by the institution.”  The Chairs have requested answers to questions about HHS OCR’s role by April 30, 2024.  BACKGROUND :  Based on a recommendation from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), HHS OCR and the NIH adopted a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate communication between the two components of HHS as it relates to sexual harassment.   This MOU was intended to clarify procedures on how the enforcement arm of HHS and the grant-making arm share valuable information with one another in an effort to respond appropriately to complaints of sexual harassment and prevent federal grant money from going to those with a history of sexual misconduct.   TIMELINE OF INVESTIGATION :  August 10, 2021 : E&C Republican Leaders Question NIH’s Handling of Sexual Harassment Complaints  August 11, 2022 : E&C Republican Leaders follow up with NIH on Insufficient Response to its Letter on the NIH’s handling of Sexual Harassment  November 30, 2022 : E&C Republicans to NIH: Turn Over Previously Requested Information Ahead of New Congress  March 14, 2023 : E&C Republicans Press NIH for Information on Handling of Sexual Harassment Complaints  October 6, 2023 : E&C Republicans Signal Intent to Issue Subpoenas to Obtain Information on NIH’s Handling of Sexual Harassment if Questions Go Unanswered  January 26, 2024 : Chair Rogers notifies NIH of Imminent Subpoena  February 5, 2024 : Chair Rodgers Subpoenas NIH for Documents Related to Investigation into Sexual Harassment at NIH and NIH Grantee Institutions February 20, 2024: HHS Responds on behalf of NIH to offer a rolling in camera document review to the Committee. Documents produced in the review have been highly redacted, including the redaction of the names of individuals convicted of criminal offenses, public news articles about individuals who have been found guilty of harassment, and redaction of the names of the institutions where the abuse occurred—effectively preventing the Committee from understanding if NIH continues to fund work performed by substantiated abusers at other institutions—a practice known as “pass the harasser.”

Washington D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., (D-NJ), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Ranking Member Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Ranking Member Kathy Castor (D-FL) wrote to UnitedHealth Group, Inc., CEO Andrew Witty today seeking information about the cyberattack on Change Healthcare. Change Healthcare, which was acquired by UnitedHealth Group’s Optum subsidiary in 2022, is one of the nation’s largest providers of health care payment management systems. On February 21, UnitedHealth Group reported it had experienced a cyberattack on its platforms, and it had taken all Change Healthcare systems offline to contain the incident. As a result of the outage, critical services affecting patient care—including billing services, claims transmittals, and eligibility verifications—became inoperable. Though UnitedHealth first notified users that it expected the disruption to “last at least through the day,” several of the company’s products have now been inoperable for more than a month. “Change Healthcare is a central player in the country’s health care system, which has been upended by the recent breach,” t he bipartisan Committee leaders wrote to Mr. Witty. “We are interested in your efforts to secure Change Healthcare’s systems since it was acquired by your company and the efforts you are taking to restore system functionality and support patients and providers affected by the attack.” Change Healthcare’s platforms touch an estimated one in three U.S. patient records. Its systems process roughly 15 billion transactions annually, and are linked to approximately 900,000 physicians, 118,000 dentists, 33,000 pharmacies, and 5,500 hospitals nationwide. The breadth of Change Healthcare’s infrastructure all but ensures that the scope of the current disruption, and any disruption in Change Healthcare services, will be extensive. “The health care system is rapidly consolidating at virtually every level, creating fewer redundancies and more vulnerability to the entire system if an entity with significant market share at any level of the system is compromised,” the Committee leaders wrote. “In order to understand better the steps UnitedHealth has taken to address this situation, we request information about the impact of the cyberattack, the actions the company is taking to secure its systems, and the outreach to the health care community in the aftermath.” As a result of the system outage, providers reportedly struggled to make payroll while some patients have been forced to pay out of pocket for crucial medications including cancer therapy drugs and insulin because pharmacies are unable to verify coverage. The Committee leaders requested answers to a series of detailed questions by April 29, 2024. CLICK HERE to read the full letter. 

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee (E&C) Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), E&C Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), and E&C Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chair Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), and House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) announced that EcoHealth Alliance (EcoHealth) President Dr. Peter Daszak will appear for a public hearing on May 1, 2024. EcoHealth—a U.S.-based non-profit whose mission is to prevent pandemics—used taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). During his closed-door transcribed interview with the Committees on November 14, 2023, Dr. Daszak made multiple statements inconsistent with documents and evidence reviewed by the Committees. This raises serious questions about the veracity of EcoHealth’s public statements, including its insistence that the research it funded at the WIV could not have caused the pandemic. The Chairs are calling on Dr. Daszak to address the discrepancies in his testimony and publicly explain EcoHealth’s relationship with the WIV. “These revelations undermine your credibility as well as every factual assertion you made during your transcribed interview. The Committees have a right and an obligation to protect the integrity of their investigations, including the accuracy of testimony during a transcribed interview. We invite you to correct the record,” wrote the Chairs. In preparation for the public hearing next month, the Chairs are also requesting further information from Dr. Daszak about EcoHealth’s communication with the WIV, public health agencies, and prominent individuals involved in the suppression of the lab-leak hypothesis. BACKGROUND: Dr. Daszak told the Committees that EcoHealth intended to conduct dangerous gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at a University of North Carolina lab if its proposal—known widely as DEFUSE—was approved by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). A recently released Freedom of Information Act document production directly contradicts this statement and suggests that EcoHealth intended to mislead DARPA and conduct the risky research at the WIV instead. Dr. Daszak’s statements require correction and clarification as these documents suggest that EcoHealth intended to conduct research at laboratories with weaker biosafety measures set by the Chinese government instead of at laboratories with higher biosafety standards required by the United States.  Scientific evidence and available intelligence indicate that a research-related incident at a lab in Wuhan remains a plausible cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. EcoHealth’s negligent, haphazard approach to biosafety and grant compliance, coupled with the misleading statements by Dr. Daszak to the Committees, raises serious concerns that must be further addressed at the hearing. CLICK HERE to read the Committees letter to Dr. Daszak.