In the House of Representatives, the Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over the nation’s telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health research, environmental quality, energy protection, cybersecurity, and interstate and foreign commerce.
The following healthcare issues are initially referred to the Subcommittee on Health for consideration: private health insurance; medical malpractice and medical malpractice insurance; programs authorized under the Social Security Act, including Medicaid, Medicare Part B, child health, long-term care and peer review; and programs authorized under the Public Health Service Act, including hospital construction, biomedical research, allied health and nurse training, medical devices, mental health research, alcoholism, drug abuse, maternal and child healthcare, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Indian Health Service and issues related to the above-referenced jurisdiction related to the Department of Homeland Security.
Finally, and also in the House of Representatives, the Ways and Means Committee is the chief tax-writing committee in the House and has jurisdiction over revenue, debt and revenue-related aspects of the Social Security system, Medicare and social service programs. The Subcommittee on Health handles bills and matters that relate to programs providing payments (from any source) for healthcare, health delivery systems or health research, including bills and matters that relate to the healthcare programs of the Social Security Act and, concurrent with the full Committee, tax credit and deduction provisions of the Internal Revenue Code dealing with health insurance premiums and healthcare costs.
To learn more about legislative action, policy priorities and how you can help ensure the voice of rheumatology is heard in Washington, D.C., visit rheumatology.org/Advocacy.
