U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan is co-chair of the bipartisan 29-member Florida congressional delegation and currently serves on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, international trade, health care, welfare, Social Security and Medicare. Buchanan is second in seniority on the committee after Leader Kevin Brady and is the lead Republican of the Health Subcommittee, a key panel that has broad jurisdiction over traditional Medicare, the Medicare prescription drug benefit and Medicare Advantage. The subcommittee also oversees issues relating to medical education, private health insurance programs and subsidies delivered through the tax code, consumer-directed health savings tools and issues related to the quality of and access to care. Buchanan is also the co-chair of House Republican Leader McCarthy’s Healthy Future Task Force which aims to develop Republican health reform initiatives.