Seema Verma, CEO, president and founder of SVC, gets into an elevator as she arrives at Trump Tower, November 22, 2016 in New York City.
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Everyone seemed to know in advance that President-elect Donald Trump was going to nominate Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia) to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. He announced just that on Tuesday.
What was not so expected was for Trump to name an administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at the same time. But Medicaid expert Seema Verma, president, CEO and founder of Indianapolis-based consulting firm SVC, is Trump’s pick to run CMS.
Verma was the architect of the Healthy Indiana Plan. That pilot program, billed as the nation’s first consumer-directed Medicaid program, started in 2008 under then-Gov. Mitch Daniels. Daniels later put her in charge of implementing the Affordable Care Act in the state.
Verma, who has a master’s degree in public health, stayed in that role when Gov. Mike Pence — soon to be Trump’s vice presdent — took over. She designed the Indiana Medicaid expansion program called HIP 2.0 that launched in 2015.
The Healthy Indiana Plan largely relied on health savings accounts in lieu of premiums, making low-income citizens have “skin in the game,” the Los Angeles Times noted in 2014. HIP 2.0 follows a similar model, which has had mixed results in Medicaid programs across the country.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Verma co-authored a blog post for Health Affairs last summer in which she repeated the “skin in the game” argument.
“HIP has been successful in meeting its policy objectives, but it also continues to demonstrate the potential for consumer-driven health care as an alternative to the traditional Medicaid model. While HIP has never touted itself as some sort of national silver bullet, it continues to serve as an example for states having similar interest in re-aligning Medicaid with the broader objective of individual empowerment,” Verma and Brian Neale, Pence’s former healthcare policy advisor, wrote.
Verma and SVC worked on Medicaid reform programs in Iowa, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky as well.
She ran into some controversy in 2014, when the Indianapolis Star reported that Verma worked for a division of Hewlett-Packard that happened to be a contractor to Indiana Medicaid at the same time she was advising the program.
The report said:
That company agreed to pay Verma more than $1 million and has landed more than $500 million in state contracts during her tenure as Indiana’s go-to health-care consultant, according to documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star.
Verma’s dual roles raise an important question: Who is she working for when she advises the state on how to spend billions of dollars in Medicaid funds — Hoosier taxpayers or one of the state’s largest contractors?
In a written statement, Verma said unequivocally that she played no role in HP’s contracts with the state. “SVC has disclosed to both HP and the state the relationship with the other to be transparent,” Verma said. “If any issue between HP and the state presented a conflict between the two, I recused myself from the process.”
But the recently ousted head of the state agency administering Verma’s contract told The Star that Verma once attempted to negotiate with state officials on behalf of Hewlett-Packard, while also being paid by the state.
Trump did not bring that up in his official statement.
“She has decades of experience advising on Medicare and Medicaid policy and helping states navigate our complicated systems,” Trump said of Verma in a press release. “Together, Chairman Price and Seema Verma are the dream team that will transform our healthcare system for the benefit of all Americans.”
Team Trump apparently does have a lot still to learn about healthcare. This screengrab from the official transition website, greatagain.gov, shows a common but easily avoidable mistake sure to drive editors and bureaucrats equally batty: Referring to the Department of Veterans Affairs as the “Veterans Administration.” That name changed in 1989.
Photos: Drew Angerer/Getty Images, greatagain.gov
