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thisfinecrewHearing to Consider the Nomination of Seema Verma to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
When: Thursday 16 February 2017 from 10.00am
Committee Members: (as at 13 Feb) Chairman: Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R - UT), Senator Chuck Grassley (R – IA), Senator Mike Crapo (R - ID), Senator Pat Roberts (R – KS), Senator Michael B. Enzi (R – WY), Senator John Cornyn (R – TX), Senator John Thune (R – SD), Senator Richard Burr (R - NC), Senator Johnny Isakson (R - GA), Senator Rob Portman (R – OH), Senator Patrick J. Toomey (R - PA), Senator Dean Heller (R - NV), Senator Tim Scott (R – SC), Senator Bill Cassidy (R – LA), Ranking Member: Senator Ron Wyden (D – OR), Senator Debbie Stabenow (D – MI), Senator Maria Cantwell (D – WA), Senator Bill Nelson (D – FL), Senator Robert Menendez (D - NJ), Senator Thomas R. Carper (D – DE), Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D – MD), Senator Sherrod Brown (D – OH), Senator Michael F. Bennet (D – CO), Senator Robert P. Casey (D - PA), Senator Mark R.Warner (D – VA), Senator Claire McCaskill (D - MO)
What the committee should be concerned about: Seema Verma is the founder and CEO of a health policy consulting firm. She negotiated with the federal government on behalf of then Governor Mike Pence to substantially worsen Medicaid arrangements for Medicaid enrollees in Indiana under the Obama-sponsored Medicaid expansion plan. Her firm has devised other punitive plans for other states, including Kentucky and Ohio, which have so far not been approved -- all apparently designed to save states money by making it much harder to access care.
As Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Verma will oversee not only Medicaid but also Medicare and the Obamacare/ACA insurance markets. Even without legislation to repeal the ACA, she could reshape the current services to give states more power and erect more barriers to coverage, using rules designed to give states flexibility to experiment with how they deliver the various healthcare programs.
In the case of Indiana, the program she negotiated has been criticised for being complex, costly, hard to manage and poorly communicated to beneficiaries so they weren't able to take steps to mitigate its effects. However, even critics of the program have said some aspects of it have improved services in Indiana, including the fact that a Medicaid expansion program -- providing coverage to more people -- was approved at all in a deeply red state.
Suggested script for calling representatives:"Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Seema Verma as the next Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services because of her track record of devising state-level policies that make it harder for hundreds of thousands of Americans to obtain the healthcare they need. Analysts have criticised her plans as complex, hard to manage, poorly communicated and offering worse coverage than under the standard federal rules. Ms Verma's poorly designed and poorly implemented responses to Medicaid expansion make her unsuited to leading the department that oversees federal health programs, and she should therefore not be our next Administrator of CMS.
Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.
When: Thursday 16 February 2017 from 10.00am
Committee Members: (as at 13 Feb) Chairman: Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R - UT), Senator Chuck Grassley (R – IA), Senator Mike Crapo (R - ID), Senator Pat Roberts (R – KS), Senator Michael B. Enzi (R – WY), Senator John Cornyn (R – TX), Senator John Thune (R – SD), Senator Richard Burr (R - NC), Senator Johnny Isakson (R - GA), Senator Rob Portman (R – OH), Senator Patrick J. Toomey (R - PA), Senator Dean Heller (R - NV), Senator Tim Scott (R – SC), Senator Bill Cassidy (R – LA), Ranking Member: Senator Ron Wyden (D – OR), Senator Debbie Stabenow (D – MI), Senator Maria Cantwell (D – WA), Senator Bill Nelson (D – FL), Senator Robert Menendez (D - NJ), Senator Thomas R. Carper (D – DE), Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D – MD), Senator Sherrod Brown (D – OH), Senator Michael F. Bennet (D – CO), Senator Robert P. Casey (D - PA), Senator Mark R.Warner (D – VA), Senator Claire McCaskill (D - MO)
What the committee should be concerned about: Seema Verma is the founder and CEO of a health policy consulting firm. She negotiated with the federal government on behalf of then Governor Mike Pence to substantially worsen Medicaid arrangements for Medicaid enrollees in Indiana under the Obama-sponsored Medicaid expansion plan. Her firm has devised other punitive plans for other states, including Kentucky and Ohio, which have so far not been approved -- all apparently designed to save states money by making it much harder to access care.
As Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Verma will oversee not only Medicaid but also Medicare and the Obamacare/ACA insurance markets. Even without legislation to repeal the ACA, she could reshape the current services to give states more power and erect more barriers to coverage, using rules designed to give states flexibility to experiment with how they deliver the various healthcare programs.
In the case of Indiana, the program she negotiated has been criticised for being complex, costly, hard to manage and poorly communicated to beneficiaries so they weren't able to take steps to mitigate its effects. However, even critics of the program have said some aspects of it have improved services in Indiana, including the fact that a Medicaid expansion program -- providing coverage to more people -- was approved at all in a deeply red state.
Suggested script for calling representatives:"Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Seema Verma as the next Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services because of her track record of devising state-level policies that make it harder for hundreds of thousands of Americans to obtain the healthcare they need. Analysts have criticised her plans as complex, hard to manage, poorly communicated and offering worse coverage than under the standard federal rules. Ms Verma's poorly designed and poorly implemented responses to Medicaid expansion make her unsuited to leading the department that oversees federal health programs, and she should therefore not be our next Administrator of CMS.
Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.
