WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — The Senate confirmed Seema Verma to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency that will have a pivotal role in implementing any health reform that repeals and replaces Obamacare.
The Senate voted 55-43 to confirm Verma Monday, she’s previously served as a healthcare consultant and is most famously remembered as the architect of Indiana’s Medicaid expansion program when former Gov. Mitch Daniels and then Vice President Mike Pence ran the state.
The agency runs Medicare and Medicaid insurance programs and is responsible for running healthcare.gov, a website used by residents in 38 states and the District of Columbia to shop for Obamacare plans. Verma has won over high praise from Republicans, her work on Medicaid expansion in Indiana “empowered people to take greater responsibility for their own health by providing incentives to use healthcare resources efficiently,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch.
During her Senate confirmation hearing she said, “I am deeply confirmed of the state of our healthcare”. She added, “I want to be part of the solution, making sure the healthcare system works for all Americans”
However, Democrats were left in a state of wanting more answers from Verma during her confirmation hearing on her commitment to lowering drug prices and her thoughts on Medicaid eligibility.
Verma said during her confirmation hearing that Medicaid needs a full overhaul but that she doesn’t support turning Medicare into a “voucher” plan. She stated that “We don’t want to see that our policies and our programs are actually preventing providers…. be very careful with policies so we are not pushing providers out of the system, but we are actually attracting providers to the program.”
You can watch the complete senate confirmation hearing on C-SPAN
