Jacob Ogles
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan has long suggested healthier Americans could mean lower health care costs.
The Longboat Key Republican next week will chair a congressional hearing on “Investing in a Healthier America.” The hearing will be held Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 2 p.m. in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington
“We need to get serious about tackling this growing health care crisis,” Buchanan posted on X.
Buchanan serves as Vice Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and chairs the Health Subcommittee.
House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, announced that the hearing will “examine the prevalence of chronic disease in America and the value of investing in prevention and innovative treatment options.”
It will include testimony from experts including former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a medical doctor and now a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center. There, Frist chairs the Future of Health Advisory Board.
Other experts expected to testify include Mark Hyman, Chair of The Food Fix Campaign and best-selling author. Of note, Buchanan recently appeared on Hyman’s “Doctor’s Farmacy” podcast discussing the economic burden of chronic disease on U.S. health care and the importance of addressing better nutrition among Americans.
Francesca Rinaldo, Chief Clinical Innovation Officer and the Senior Care Action Network (SCAN) Health Plan, will also speak. So will Anne Peters, a senior scholar at the University of Southern California Schaeffer Institute and professor of clinical medicine and clinical scholar at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
No testimony from other individuals will be taken at the event except from invited experts. The committee will accept written testimony submitted to the House Ways and Means Office.
In his House role, Buchanan has helped to shape the Republican majority’s health care agenda.
Buchanan earlier this year launched the Preventive Health and Wellness Caucus with U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, a Wisconsin Democrat, and has said he wants to find a bipartisan solution to America’s obesity epidemic.
