House Ways and Means subcommittee spotlights chronic disease costs, discusses Medicare pilot for medically tailored meals
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Summary
A member of the House Ways and Means subcommittee opened a hearing on modernizing American health care, emphasizing rising chronic disease prevalence and outlining proposed legislation and pilot programs including a Medicare pilot for medically tailored meals and the Chronic Disease Flexibility Coverage Act.
A member of the House Ways and Means subcommittee said Wednesday that rising rates of chronic illness require new federal policy approaches and discussed proposed pilot programs and bills to address costs and outcomes.
The subcommittee member said chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease are “skyrocketing” and that “6 in 10 Americans have at least 1 of the 2 chronic diseases.” The member described several legislative and policy proposals discussed in the hearing, including a proposal to establish a Medicare pilot to provide medically tailored meals for seniors and the Chronic Disease Flexibility Coverage Act, which the member said would allow employers who offer high-deductible plans to include certain pre-deductible coverage for services that treat chronic illness.
The hearing opening cited a Partnership to Fight Diseases projection the speaker described as a $3,000,000,000,000 total cost of chronic disease in Florida over a multi‑decade period; the transcript’s dates around that projection were garbled and not specified precisely. The subcommittee member also cited a claim that 72 percent of employers saw reduced health costs after starting workplace wellness programs and repeated federal estimates tying obesity to major increases in medical expenditures.
The member referenced recently introduced or supported efforts from several lawmakers. The member said the American Medical Innovation and Investment Act had passed out of the committee and mentioned a caucus organized with Congresswoman Glenn Moore to focus on obesity and related issues. The member also said Congressman Smucker recently launched a caucus focused on access to affordable, healthy foods and named Congressman Zweicker as leading a committee report that projected large excess medical expenditures tied to obesity.
No formal motions or votes were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The remarks in the excerpt consisted of opening statements and descriptions of legislation and caucus activity rather than committee action items or formal directives to staff.
The subcommittee member said the committee plans additional hearings and markups to advance reforms and encouraged bipartisan cooperation on the issues discussed.