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Seema Verma
American businesswoman (born 1970) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Seema Verma (born September 26, 1970)[2] is an American healthcare executive who is currently a general manager and executive vice president at Oracle Corporation. She was administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the first Donald Trump administration from 2017 to 2021. During her tenure, she supported policies aimed at repealing elements of the Affordable Care Act and implementing changes to Medicaid. Her time in office drew scrutiny over her use of federal funds, leading to investigations regarding legal compliance.
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Early life and education
Born in Virginia, Verma was a first-generation Indian American. She and her family moved several times, living in small towns such as Joplin, Missouri, and larger cities such as the Washington D.C. area. She also lived in Taiwan for five years while growing up.[3] In 1988, she graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland.[4] Verma's father, Jugal Verma, said his daughter "grew up in a Democratic household."[5]
Verma received a bachelor's degree in life sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1993. She earned a Master of Public Health, with a concentration in health policy and management, from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1996.[6]
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Career
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Early career
Verma was vice president of the Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County,[7] and worked at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in Washington, D.C.[8]
SVC, Inc.
Verma founded health policy consulting firm SVC, Inc. in June 2001. She was president and CEO of the company, which worked with state insurance and public health agencies for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. SVC also assisted Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Kentucky, as well as other states, in the design of Medicaid expansion programs under the ACA.[8][9]
In 2006, Verma's team began pitching policies which would "provide government-funded health insurance to the working poor." She approached Gov. Mitch Daniels with a Medicaid alternative, featuring health savings accounts that required participants to contribute monthly, even if only a few dollars.[10] This proposal eventually became the Healthy Indiana Plan, which expanded coverage options to low-income individuals with employer-sponsored healthcare coverage.[9]
In her work with Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, she developed Medicaid reform programs under the Section 1115 waiver process.[11][12]
Ethics controversy
In 2014, ethics concerns were raised over a potential conflict of interest 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 division that is among Indiana's largest Medicaid vendors.[7] 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.[13][14] In 2016, her firm collected $316,000 for work done for the State of Kentucky as a subcontractor for Hewlett-Packard.[14][15] Ethics experts noted this conflicted with her public duties.[14]
Trump administration
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On November 29, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Verma to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and the insurance markets.[16] On March 13, 2017, the United States Senate confirmed her nomination in a 55–43 vote.[17]
One of her first actions was to send a letter to the nation's governors, urging them to impose insurance premiums for Medicaid, charge Medicaid recipients for emergency room visits, and encourage recipients to obtain employment or job training as a requirement for Medicaid coverage. Verma stated in the letter that she was concerned about the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid to non-disabled, working-age adults without dependent children, suggesting it may divert resources from more vulnerable populations.[18][19] She was supportive of President Trump signing into law legislation that permitted states to withhold federal funds from facilities that provide abortions.[20]
Verma was a vocal critic of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and referred to it as a"failure" during a national conference in 2019.[21][22][23][24] Throughout her tenure at CMS, she led President Trump's charge to repeal and replace Obamacare. She advocated for a state-led, decentralized approach to the ACA,[25][26] and supported states implementing work requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients.[27] In 2018, Verma oversaw a $26 million cut to the Affordable Care Act Navigator Program, a government initiative that assists consumers in enrolling in health insurance through the health insurance marketplace. Some critics noted that these cuts made it more challenging for individuals to enroll during the open enrollment period.[28][29][30] On July 25, 2018, Verma gave a speech[31] in San Francisco in which she criticized proposals for "Medicare for all". She stated that single-payer health care would destroy Medicare, which provides insurance for elderly people, and lead to "Medicare for None."[32]
During her tenure, Verma had a contentious relationship with Alex Azar, the HHS Secretary. The two reportedly clashed over which policies would replace Obamacare and who would get credit for those initiatives.[33] Verma accused Azar of sex discrimination; an inquiry by a former Trump HHS official, Heather Flick, concluded that Azar had not discriminated.[34][35] 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.[36]
The clashes extended to co-workers at CMS.[34] Verma quickly assigned her next Chief of Staff to Baltimore, "shutting him out" of her inner circle in Washington.[37] 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.[38] Afterwards, the reporter of the Modern Healthcare article stated that he was threatened with a ban from press calls.[39][40] The president of the Association of Health Care Journalists condemned this action as "bullying"[39] and commented that "Verma seems to think she can bury inconvenient facts by threatening reporters with blacklisting."[41]
On March 2, 2020, the office of Vice President Mike Pence announced Verma's addition to the White House Coronavirus Task Force.[42][43] As a part of the taskforce, Verma introduced temporary waivers and regulatory flexibilities for hospitals and healthcare providers.[44]
In the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, she pushed Medicare career civil servant officials to finalize a plan to issue $200 prescription drug discount cards to Medicaid beneficiaries before the November 3 election, branded with Trump's name.[45] The taxpayer-funded plan was estimated to cost $7.9 billion and draw from Medicare's trust fund.[45]
She submitted her resignation from the Trump administration 7 days after the 2021 United States Capitol insurrection, but served until the end of the administration.[46][47][48]
Ethics and legal investigations
On August 20, 2018, Verma filed a claim requesting that taxpayers reimburse her for jewelry and other items she alleged was stolen on a work-related trip to San Francisco, including a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant.[49][50][51] Although she requested $47,000,[52] she ultimately received $2,852.40 in reimbursement.[32] The incident drew criticism from Democratic Representative Joe Kennedy III, who called for her to resign.[53]
In her role as CMS administrator, Verma approved communications subcontracts worth more than $3.5 million of taxpayer funds to Republican-connected communications consultants 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.[54][55] Verma made an effort to purchase awards and honors for herself using taxpayer dollars.[56] 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.[57][58][59]
In September 2020, Democrats on four congressional committees concluded [56] that she "may have violated federal law," leading Congress to request a formal legal opinion from the Government Accountability Office.[60][61] The report from GAO, issued in 2023, concluded that CMS did not violate the purpose statute, publicity or propaganda prohibition, or publicity experts prohibition when it obligated appropriations for task orders for communication services.[62]
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.[63]
Post-Trump administration and Oracle career
Verma told reporters she had "no regrets" about her actions or tenure.[64][65] Verma joined the board of multiple healthcare firms.[66] She was appointed as general manager and senior vice president at the Oracle Corporation in April 2023, reporting to Mike Sicilia.[67][68] In January 2024, her role was expanded to executive vice president, and she now oversees Oracle Health.[69]
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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.[70] Verma and her family live in Carmel, Indiana.[70]
References
External links
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