Health

The House Subcommittee on Health is a specialized panel within the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, one of Congress's oldest and broadest committees. The subcommittee focuses on a specific slice of the parent committee's expansive jurisdiction: the health sector and related federal agencies. This division of labor allows the full committee to manage its wide-ranging responsibilities by having the Health Subcommittee handle initial hearings and groundwork on health-related bills before they advance to the full committee.

The subcommittee's jurisdiction covers public health and quarantine, hospital construction, mental health, biomedical research and development, health information technology and cybersecurity, both public and private health insurance programs including Medicare and Medicaid, medical malpractice, and the regulation of drugs, vaccines, devices, food, cosmetics, and tobacco. It also oversees key federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Indian Health Service.

Chaired by Representative H. Morgan Griffith of Virginia, with Ranking Member Diana DeGette of Colorado, the subcommittee has 30 members. Recent hearings have examined health care cost reduction, drug threats to communities, the HHS budget, and illicit drug prevention. The subcommittee serves as the initial forum where members debate and refine health policy proposals before they move to the full committee for consideration.