House Republicans have asked the leaders of some of the nation’s largest health insurers to testify before Congress at the end of January as scrutiny intensifies over rising healthcare costs and industry profits.
On Jan. 22, the CEOs of UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, Elevance Health, The Cigna Group, and Ascendium (parent company of Blue Shield of California) will appear before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health in the morning, and the House Committee on Ways and Means in the afternoon, according to a Jan. 8 statement from the committees.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Missouri) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky) said the hearing will address “rising costs, the current state of healthcare affordability, and the role played by large health insurers.”
The hearing comes as President Donald Trump said Jan. 6 that he plans to meet with 14 insurers to pressure them to lower prices for Americans, though it is unclear if that meeting will occur.
“We’re trying to solve the healthcare problem. We’re trying to get better healthcare at a lower price,” Mr. Trump said during a speech to House Republicans. “Let the money go not to the big fat cats and the insurance companies that made 1,700% over the last short period of time. Let the money go directly to the people where they can buy their own healthcare.”
The political focus on insurance costs comes after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history last year, triggered by a standoff over enhanced ACA subsidies that expired at the end of 2025. Congressional efforts to extend the subsidies have stalled, though a plan to reestablish them for two years and add new restrictions may be released soon in the Senate.
In 2026, employers are facing the steepest health benefit cost increases in 15 years, with some estimates putting increases near 10% nationally. Multiple employer surveys attribute rising costs to covering chronic and high-cost conditions, along with greater care utilization and drug spending, particularly on GLP-1 medications.
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