Senate confirms Seema Verma to head Medicare and Medicaid
Source: USA Today
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Trump’s pick to run Medicare and Medicaid won confirmation Monday from a divided Senate as lawmakers braced for another epic battle over the government’s role in health care and society’s responsibility toward the vulnerable.
Indiana health care consultant Seema Verma, a protégé of Vice President Pence, was approved by a 55-43 vote, largely along party lines. She’ll head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a $1 trillion agency that oversees health insurance programs for more than 130 million people, from elderly nursing home residents to newborns. It’s part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Verma, a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from India, takes over at CMS with the agency facing sweeping changes under the House Republican health care bill backed by Trump.
That legislation would roll back key elements of former president Barack Obama’s health care law, including its Medicaid expansion for low-income people. More significantly, the GOP bill would limit overall federal financing for Medicaid in the future. Taken together, those changes could reverse the Obama era’s historic health insurance gains.
With a background in public health, Verma says she wants government programs to improve health, not just pay bills. She’s been critical of Medicaid, saying “the status quo is not acceptable” for the federal-state insurance program that covers more than 70 million low-income people.
In Indiana, Verma designed a Medicaid expansion along conservative lines for Pence. Most beneficiaries are required to pay modest premiums. And the program uses financial rewards and penalties to steer patients to primary care providers instead of the emergency room. Critics say the plan has been confusing for beneficiaries and some have incurred penalties through no fault of their own.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/13/senate-confirms-trump-pick-to-head-medicare-and-medicaid/99143348/
The Senate voted 55-43 to approve
Verma’s confirmation was not without controversy early on. In an initial committee hearing, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said that while helping manage the state of Indiana’s health program, her firm was being paid by companies that were providing services and products to the program.
Verma has denied wrongdoing and said she would divest her financial interest in SVC within 90 days of confirmation.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/senate-confirms-trumps-pick-to-run-medicare-medicaid/?comments=disqus
Democrats or those aligned with Democrats voting for her:
Donnelly (D-IN)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Manchin (D-WV)
"Independent" AKA Repub:
King (I-ME)
Cowards not voting:
Isakson (R-GA)
Rubio (R-FL)
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