Week two of Secretary Kennedy hearings
After three appearances at congressional committees last week, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kennedy will testify in front of four additional committees this week. On Tuesday, he will appear at the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Appropriations Committees. On Wednesday, he will testify at the Senate Finance and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees. Discussion last week centered on vaccines, National Institutes of Health funding, and chronic disease prevention. This week’s hearings will likely focus on the same topics, although the hearing worth watching the most is the HELP hearing. HELP Committee Chair Cassidy (R-LA) has opposed some actions taken by Secretary Kennedy, largely around vaccine policy, and he faces a challenger in his May primary election who is backed by the Make America Healthy Again movement.
While those hearings are occurring, the House Ways and Means Committee will discuss Medicare fraud, and the House Education and Workforce Committee will debate pharmacy benefit managers. Last week, the House Appropriations Committee began fiscal year 2027 markups, and this week the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Subcommittee will consider the Ag-FDA funding bill. The House is also scheduled to vote on a few healthcare bills under suspension of the rules, including legislation related to telehealth, rural healthcare, and lung cancer research.
In the Senate, budget reconciliation work kicks into high gear this week. The Senate Budget Committee is expected to release a budget resolution early this week that will direct the Senate Judiciary and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees to fund US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) amid the ongoing US Department of Homeland Security shutdown. Senate vote-a-rama, where members present and debate amendments, could begin as early as Wednesday. Members could try to add healthcare-related instructions into the resolution, either to advance Republican priorities before the midterm election or to offset the cost of funding ICE and CBP. Senate Majority Leader Thune (R-SD) appears opposed to that idea and wants to keep the budget resolution and ultimate reconciliation bill narrowly focused on ICE and CBP to increase the chances of it passing. All eyes will be on vote-a-rama to see how or if the budget resolution is amended, and whether healthcare is put on the table.
On the regulatory front, we continue to wait for the release of the 2027 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters final rule for the marketplaces. The 2027 application submission process for qualified health plans on the federally facilitated exchanges opened last week, even though a final rule has not yet been released.
Today’s podcast
In this week’s Healthcare Preview, Rodney Whitlock and Debbie Curtis join Erin Fuller to unpack the discussions around budget reconciliation in the Senate and Secretary Kennedy’s marathon stretch of hearings on Capitol Hill.