U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) yesterday as expected announced that Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) will chair the Subcommittee on Health and Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Guthrie said in December he hopes Congress will do more to make hospital prices transparent. He specifically referenced an example in the September 2022 New York Times investigation of a 340B hospital system regarding the difference between what hospitals pay for 340B-acquired drugs and what they charge private payers for those drugs.
The oversight subcommittee held hearings on 340B when it was under Republican leadership in 2015 and 2017. Griffith co-sponsored bipartisan legislation during past sessions to let rural and free-standing cancer hospital buy orphan-designated drugs at 340B pricing when such drugs are used to treat common, non-orphan conditions. Griffith has a number of 340B hospitals and other 340B covered entities in his southwestern Virginia district.
McMorris Rodgers also announced the two subcommittees’ Republican members:
Health
Larry Bucshon (Ind.), Vice Chair
Michael Burgess (Texas)
Bob Latta (Ohio)
Morgan Griffith (Va.)
Gus Bilirakis (Fla.)
Bill Johnson (Ohio)
Richard Hudson (N.C.)
Buddy Carter (Ga.)
Neal Dunn (Fla.)
Greg Pence (Ind.)
Dan Crenshaw (Texas)
John Joyce (Pa.)
Diana Harshbarger (Tenn.)
Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa)
Jay Obernolte (Calif.)
Oversight and Investigations
Debbie Lesko (Ariz.), Vice Chair
Michael Burgess (Texas)
Brett Guthrie (Ky.)
Jeff Duncan (S.C.)
Gary Palmer (Ala.)
Dan Crenshaw (Texas)
Kelly Armstrong (N.D.)
Kat Cammack (Fla.)
Ranking E&C Democrat Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) is expected to announce his committee members as early as this week. The overall ratio for the committee will be 29-23 in favor of the Republicans who have a narrow majority in the House.
