Seema Verma, CMS Administrator
Verma is credited with being the architect of the “Healthy Indiana Plan” and “Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0” implemented under former Gov. Mitch Daniels and his successor former Gov. Mike Pence (who is now Trump’s vice president). The Healthy Indiana Plan proved to be the “most conservative Medicaid expansion program in the country,” according to The Atlantic. The Healthy Indiana Plan included high deductibles requirements and stiff penalties for not making payments on time.
One of Verma’s first actions as CMS administrator was to send a letter to the nation’s governors, urging them to reform their state’s Medicaid programs by charging insurance premiums, making people in the program pay part of their ER bills and steering them toward getting jobs, according to The Washington Post.
Verma’s bio on CMS’s website says she is “working toward a new era of state flexibility and local leadership at CMS.”
A 2014 Indy Star article chided Verma for working for Indiana state government as a private healthcare consultant at the same time that her firm also worked for an HP division that was one of the state’s largest Medicaid vendors.