WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, questioned Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Finance committee hearing today about support for rural hospitals and the need for greater transparency on prescription drug pricing and the national organ transplant system.
In light of concerns raised by Iowa family farmers, Grassley also pressed Kennedy on his commitment to leave farming regulations up to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), not to HHS. In response, Kennedy noted HHS is working closely with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and the farming community to “make sure the MAHA agenda is consistent with their agenda.”
On the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program:
I have asked HHS Secretaries in the past to fully utilize the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program under Medicare. The program has been underutilized.
In May, the [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] filled the open slots [in the program]. Thanks to your agency’s work, there’s been 10 more rural hospitals in the program. It’s important that the federal government uses every tool possible to help rural hospitals, and thank you for making that possible.
On the need for HHS to leave farming regulations to USDA and EPA:
Back in January, during your confirmation hearing, you told me that you agreed to leave farming regulations to the Department of Agriculture and the EPA.
Do you think that any comments you have made since your confirmation on topics dealing with agriculture are consistent with what you said in January that USDA and EPA ought to be regulating farming and that the Department of Health and Human Services should not seek to regulate farms, the tools they use or the markets that they sell into?
On the need for price transparency in prescription drug TV ads:
Senator Durbin and I have a bipartisan bill that requires price disclosures on TV ads [for prescription drugs]. Price transparency is important in drug advertisements. I know that President Trump, Vice President Vance, and you are all supportive of this effort.
When can I expect action from this administration on requiring drug companies to publish the price of drugs in their TV ads? And, just in case you would tell me that you don’t think you have that authority, can you help Senator Durbin and I on our bill, so that we can ensure that you have legal authority to require price disclosure?
On Grassley’s oversight of Organ Procurement Organizations and the need for greater accountability:
Senator Wyden and I have been working on this. For nearly two decades, I’ve engaged in bipartisan oversight of the organ transplant system. [The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)] has developed a tool to combat transplant line skipping. I hope that you can ensure steps are being taken by HHS and HRSA to curb transplant line skipping.
On July 2, Senator Wyden and I wrote you a letter highlighting cases of OPOs in Mississippi and Kentucky. In each of these cases, the OPO allegedly tried to harvest organs from a patient still showing signs of life. I expect you to take steps through [HHS and HRSA] to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
-30-