Seema Verma, President Donald Trump’s nominee for administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is in the hot seat Thursday morning, testifying before lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee.
As the head of the federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid, if confirmed, Verma would find herself smack in the middle of the contentious political debate around overhauling Obamacare.
Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle agreed Verma’s role could prove to be one of the most influential in the Trump administration.
“I suspect you also know that the job you’ve been nominated for is a thankless one, fraught with numerous challenges,” GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch, the chairman of the Finance Committee, said. “The failings of Obamacare are urgent and must be addressed in short order.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the panel, said leading CMS was “one of the most consequential positions in government,” particularly as his GOP colleagues look to make “radical changes” to the health care system.
The GOP efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, Wyden warned, “would take the country back to the days when healthcare was mostly for the healthy and the wealthy.”
Verma would have a full plate as soon as she is confirmed.
Working alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Verma would lead the agency’s overhaul of the regulations governing Obamacare. Hours after Trump took office, he issued an executive order directing agencies to minimize the financial burdens of Obamacare on individuals, states, insurers and others.
On Wednesday, CMS issued a proposed rule aimed at placating nervous insurers and starting the shift to a Republican view of health coverage. The changes will give insurers a little more flexibility in designing their plans — which will likely mean lower premiums but higher deductibles and co-pays for consumers.
And it will be up to Verma’s agency to write the rules and administer whatever changes Congress makes to the health reform law.
Beyond Obamacare, Verma is also in charge of carrying out changes lawmakers to Medicaid and, eventually, Medicare. Congress must decide whether to continue Medicaid expansion, which now covers 11 million low-income adults. But Republicans have even bigger plans for the program — they want to limit the federal government’s financial obligation by turning into a fixed funding grant for states.
Overhauling Medicare will prove to be a bigger battle on Capitol Hill. But if House Speaker Paul Ryan is successful in carrying out his plan to give seniors a federal subsidy to help them buy coverage on the private market, it will be up to Verma’s team to put it into action.