Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hearing For Trump Nominee Likely Will Focus On Her Work Helping States Revamp Medicaid
Seema Verma, the Indiana health care consultant who has been tapped to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will face senators’ questions Thursday on how she would approach the job if confirmed. Exhibit A is likely to be Indiana’s alternative Medicaid program, which Verma designed, and which has been praised by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price as a national model. (Groppe, 2/15)
The businesswoman President Donald Trump selected to oversee Medicaid, the health care program for 74 million low-income Americans, has said the program is structurally flawed by policies that burden states and foster dependency among the poor. ... Her proposed solutions can be seen most dramatically in Indiana, where Medicaid enrollees pay fees and a missed payment means a six-month lockout from the program. ... Democrats in Washington are concerned Verma's methods may become a favored model as Republicans work to repeal the Affordable Care Act, making it harder for non-disabled adults to get access to health care. (Johnson, 2/16)
If confirmed, she would take over CMS at a moment of particular uncertainty for the health care industry as Republicans seek to dismantle Obamacare but haven't settled on a replacement plan. That makes Verma's work in Indiana and other states especially notable since it could provide a roadmap for what she could do in Washington. (Bradner, 2/16)
Seema Verma's claim to fame has been as the conservative health wonk who made Obamacare's expansion of Medicaid work in red states. Then, she was tapped to be the Trump administration's point person for dismantling the health law. (Pradhan, 2/15)
Seema Verma will need clearance from the HHS office of ethics before she can weigh in on any decisions involving states that paid her to help tweak their Medicaid programs. ... From Indiana alone, Verma's Indianapolis-based firm, SVC Inc. collected more than $6.6 million in consulting fees. The firm helped the state expand Medicaid .... That and other contracts led Verma to inform the HHS' ethics office that she will request written authorization before hearing matters involving states she worked for. That also includes Arkansas, South Carolina, and Virginia. (Dickson, 2/14)
