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Seema Verma (born September 26, 1970) is an American
health policy Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific healthcare goals within a society".World Health Organization''Health Policy'' accessed 22 March 2011(Web archive)/ref> According to the ...
consultant and former administrator of the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer ...
in the Donald Trump administration. During her tenure, she was involved in efforts to repeal the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...
, as well as reduce
Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...
benefits and increase restrictions on Medicaid.


Education

Born in Virginia, Verma was a first-generation American. She and her family moved several times, living in small towns such as
Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both Jas ...
, and larger cities such as the Washington D.C. area. She also lived in Taiwan for five years while growing up. In 1988, she graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in
Greenbelt, Maryland Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental and controversial New Dea ...
. Verma's father, Jugal Verma, said his daughter "grew up in a Democratic household.” Verma received a bachelor's degree in
life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, th ...
from the
University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...
, in 1993. She earned a
Master of Public Health The Master of Public Health or Master of Philosophy in Public Health (M.P.H.), Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMSPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.), International Masters for Healt ...
, with a concentration in
health policy Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific healthcare goals within a society".World Health Organization''Health Policy'' accessed 22 March 2011(Web archive)/ref> According to the ...
and
management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...
, from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1996.


Career


Early career

Verma was vice president of the Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, and worked at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in Washington, D.C.


SVC, Inc.

Verma founded
health policy Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific healthcare goals within a society".World Health Organization''Health Policy'' accessed 22 March 2011(Web archive)/ref> According to the ...
consulting firm SVC, Inc., in June 2001. She was president and CEO of the company, which has worked with state insurance agencies and public health agencies in preparation for the implementation of the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...
, and assisted Indiana and Kentucky, as well as other states, in the design of
Medicaid expansion In the context of American public healthcare policy, Medicaid coverage gap refers to uninsured people who reside in states which have opted out of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), who are both ineligible for Medicaid unde ...
programs under the ACA. In her work with Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, she developed Medicaid reform programs under the Section 1115 waiver process.


Ethics controversy

In 2014, significant ethics concerns were raised over a
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
arising from Verma's dual roles as both a health care consultant for the State of Indiana and as an employee of a
Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
division that is among Indiana's largest
Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...
vendors. As of 2011, SVC, Inc. had been awarded over $6.6 million in contracts from the State of Indiana, while Verma was concurrently employed with Hewlett-Packard, earning her over $1 million during a period when the company had secured $500 million in State of Indiana contracts. In 2016, her firm collected an additional $316,000 for work done for the State of Kentucky as a subcontractor for Hewlett-Packard, according to documents obtained by the AP through public records requests. Debra Minott, former Secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Service Administration, said it was "shocking to me that she could play both sides" in reference to Verma lobbying on behalf of HP over a billing dispute with the State of Indiana. Richard Painter, former
President George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
’s chief ethics lawyer, called Verma’s arrangement a “conflict of interest” that “clearly should not happen and is definitely improper.” Ethics experts noted this conflicted with her public duties.


Trump administration

On November 29, 2016, President-elect
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
announced plans to nominate Verma to serve as administrator of the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer M ...
, the agency that oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and the insurance markets. On March 13, 2017, the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
confirmed her nomination in a 55–43 vote. She was sworn into office on the ''
Bhagavad-Gītā As It Is The is a translation and commentary of the ''Bhagavad Gita'' by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement. This translation of ''Bh ...
,'' a translation and commentary of the
Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' ( ...
by
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami (; 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON, commonly known as the " Hare Krishna movement". Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a rep ...
, founder of the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktiv ...
(ISKCON), commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement. One of her first actions was to send a letter to the nation's governors, urging them to impose
insurance premium Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
s for Medicaid, charge Medicaid recipients for
emergency room An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...
visits, and encourage recipients to obtain employment or job training as a requirement for Medicaid coverage. Verma is a harsh critic of the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...
(ACA) calling it a "failure". Throughout her tenure at CMS, she led President Trump's charge to repeal and replace Obamacare. Verma made substantial cuts to the ACA Navigator program, making it more difficult for individuals to obtain coverage during open enrollment. On July 25, 2018, Verma gave a speech in San Francisco in which she criticized proposals for "
Medicare for all Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from ...
". She stated that single-payer health care would destroy Medicare, which provides insurance for elderly people, and lead to "Medicare for None." ''Politico'' reported that Verma clashed with HHS Secretary Alex Azar over which plans would replace Obamacare, who would get credit for those efforts, and Verma's attempts to accompany the President on
Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and us ...
instead of Azar. Verma accused Azar of sex discrimination; an inquiry by a former Trump HHS official, Heather Flick, concluded that Azar had not discriminated. It was not the first clash Verma had with high-level officials. Flick's inquiry reportedly said Verma had discussed with a lawyer a possible hostile work environment claim against then-HHS Secretary Tom Price; Verma denied she had done this. The clashes extended to co-workers at CMS, as Verma was cited by her first Chief of Staff in an HHS investigative report as being "insecure" and someone who "lashes out" at subordinates. Verma quickly assigned her next Chief of Staff to Baltimore, "shutting him out" of her inner circle in Washington. Verma ultimately cycled through 5 Chiefs of Staff and 5 Medicaid directors during her term. '' Modern Healthcare'' reported that Verma's subordinate and former Medicaid director abruptly quit the agency after a disagreement "erupted" between them. This led Verma to ban the Modern Healthcare reporter from future media calls with CMS. The president of the Association of Health Care Journalists condemned this action as "bullying" and commented that "Verma seems to think she can bury inconvenient facts by threatening reporters with blacklisting." On March 2, 2020, the office of
Vice President Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...
announced Verma's addition to the
White House Coronavirus Task Force The White House Coronavirus Task Force was the United States Department of State task force during the Presidency of Donald Trump, Trump administration that "coordinate and overs wthe administration's efforts to monitor, prevent, contain ...
. In the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, she pushed Medicare career
civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
officials to finalize a plan to issue $200 cards before the November 3 election, branded with Trump's name, for Medicare recipients to use on drugs. The taxpayer-funded plan was estimated to cost $7.9 billion and draw from Medicare's trust fund. One of the priorities during her tenure as CMS administrator was to make it possible for states to implement work requirements for Medicaid. The Biden administration sought to reverse those moves. She submitted her resignation from the Trump Administration 7 days after the 2021 United States Capitol insurrection.


Ethics and legal investigations

On August 20, 2018, Verma filed a claim requesting that taxpayers reimburse her for jewelry she alleged was stolen on a work-related trip to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
. Although she requested $47,000, including a $325 claim for partially used moisturizer, $349 for noise-cancelling headphones, and a $5,900
Ivanka Trump Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump (; born October 30, 1981) is an American businesswoman and the first daughter of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. She was a senior advisor in his administration, and also was the ...
-brand gold and diamond pendant worn during meetings with President Trump, she ultimately received $2,852.40 in reimbursement. Democratic Representative
Joe Kennedy III Joseph Patrick Kennedy III (born October 4, 1980) is an American lawyer, politician and diplomat who currently serves as United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland since 2022. Prior to this, Kennedy served as the U.S. representative for f ...
called on Verma to resign immediately, calling her actions a taxpayer "bailout for stolen goods she chose not to insure". In March 2019, ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' reported that in her role as CMS administrator, Verma approved communications subcontracts worth more than $2 million of taxpayer funds to Republican-connected
communications consultants Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
and other expenses to boost her visibility and public image, leading to federal ethics and criminal investigations. Included in the consultants' work were proposals to have Verma featured in magazines like '' Glamour'' and have her invited to prestigious events to increase her public persona. Verma made an effort to purchase awards and honors for herself using taxpayer dollars. In July 2020, the HHS Inspector General reported that Verma spent more than $5 million in taxpayer funds to do communications work, and to help raise her profile. The report, a result of a 15-month investigation, concluded that Verma violated federal contracting rules: "CMS improperly administered the contracts and created improper employer-employee relationships between CMS and the contractors". In September 2020, Democrats on four congressional committees concluded that "Congress did not intend for taxpayer dollars to be spent on handpicked communications consultants used to promote Administrator Verma's public profile and personal brand. Administrator Verma has shown reckless disregard for the public's trust. We believe she should personally reimburse the taxpayers for these inappropriate expenditures." The panel concluded that she "may have violated federal law," leading Congress to request a formal legal opinion from the Government Accountability Office. Verma spent more than $3.5 million on Republican Party-aligned consultants to promote her. These consultants were paid to help her write tweets and speeches, polish her profile, and broker meetings with companies and high-profile individual, including other members of government. Verma spent nearly $3,000 in taxpayer dollars on consulting fees for organizing a "Girl's Night" party thrown in her honor, hundreds of dollars for makeup artists, as well as $13,000 to promote herself to win awards and appear on panels. Verma's consultants aimed to place her on profile-enhancing lists, such as the '' Washingtonian's'' "Most Powerful Women in Washington" list, targeted media outlets for Verma with no clear connection to CMS initiatives (such as "Badass Women of DC"), and generated ideas for potential social events for Verma to attend, such as the
Ford's Theatre Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in August 1863. The theater is infamous for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater bo ...
Gala, Kennedy Center Honors, and Motion Picture Association events. The consultants provided her with talking points on repealing the Affordable Care Act in 2017, and helped her write a 2018 opinion column under her name in the ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'' arguing for Medicaid work requirements. Verma was often accompanied by consultants as part of her travel entourage, billing CMS up to $380 per hour. She also used consultants as drivers at a rate up to $203 per hour and hotel rooms for official travel that cost more than $500 per night, hundreds of dollars above the government per diem rate. These consultants, including one who was awaiting sentencing on a felony conviction for lying to Congress about misuse of taxpayer funds, led communications efforts on major policy initiatives and rollouts. CMS leadership provided them with access to sensitive information on proposed rule-makings, internal plans for anticipated policy roll-outs, and other potentially non-public, market-sensitive information. One of the outside consultants that Verma paid was Marcus Barlow, who had been her spokesperson at her former consulting firm SVC, who worked on three separate contracts for CMS, earning between $209–$230 an hour. According to the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', this worked out to more than double the salary he would have received as a federal employee. As late as December 2020 during Verma's tenure, Barlow accompanied Verma and other CMS officials to an official function at the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
. In 2021, Verma said she lost her CMS-issued cell phone two days before President Biden's inauguration, resulting in the elimination of all of its stored records. Verma then failed to complete the standard form explaining how she lost her phone, the court records state. Verma was issued a new iPhone on January 18, which she returned nine days later. Records from that phone can not be accessed because the phone was locked and Verma said she had forgotten her passcode.


Post-Trump administration career

Verma told reporters she had "no regrets" about her actions or tenure Verma joined the board of multiple healthcare firms.


Personal life

Born in Virginia, Verma moved several times across the United States with her family, and once lived in Taiwan for five years, before settling in the greater
Indianapolis area Indianapolis–Carmel–Anderson or Indianapolis metropolitan area is an 11-county metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Indiana, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. The metropolitan area is situated in Central Indiana, within the ...
. Verma and her family live in
Carmel, Indiana Carmel is a suburban city in Indiana immediately north of Indianapolis. With a population of 100,777, the city spans across Clay Township in Hamilton County, Indiana, and is bordered by the White River to the east; the Hamilton-Boone county l ...
.


References


External links

*
Biography at CMS.gov
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Verma, Seema 1970 births Living people American people of Indian descent American health care chief executives American politicians of Indian descent American public health doctors American women chief executives Indiana Republicans Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni People from Indiana Trump administration personnel United States Department of Health and Human Services officials University of Maryland, College Park alumni 21st-century American women Women public health doctors Asian conservatism in the United States