Verma will transform the healthcare system.
Indian American Dr. Seema Verma has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump as the administrator of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, on Tuesday. She is the second Indian American to be nominated to the incoming administration after South Carolina governor Nikki Haley was appointed US ambassador to the United Nations.
“I am pleased to nominate Seema Verma to serve as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,” Trump said in a statement, adding: “She has decades of experience advising on Medicare and Medicaid policy and helping states navigate our complicated systems. Together, Chairman Price and Seema Verma are the dream team that will transform our healthcare system for the benefit of all Americans.”
Verma is the architect of Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), which has been billed as the country’s first consumer-directed Medicaid program. It has been speculated that Trump would include her in his team to utilize her expertise in healthcare filed to repeal Obamacare, with a new health care initiative under the new administration.
“I am honored to be nominated by President-elect Trump today. I look forward to helping him tackle our nation’s daunting healthcare problems in a responsible and sustainable way,” Verma said in a statement.
Based in Indianapolis, Verma has supported Indiana through the development of the historic program since its inception in 2007, from development of the enabling legislation, negotiating the financing plan with the state’s hospital association, developing the federal waiver, supporting federal negotiations, and leading the implementation of the program, including the operational design.
Verma has also developed many of the recent Medicaid reform programs, including waivers for Iowa, Ohio, Kentucky and helped design Tennessee’s coverage expansion proposal and also provided technical assistance to Michigan as they implemented their 1115 Medicaid waiver.
Verma received her Master’s degree in Public Health, with a concentration in policy and management from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and her Bachelors in Life Sciences, from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Trump also named Congressman Tom Price secretary of health and human services, with the task of dismantling Obamacare.