Seema Verma

Seema Verma (born September 26, 1970) is an American healthcare executive who is currently a general manager and executive vice president at Oracle Corporation. She was administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the first Donald Trump administration from 2017 to 2021. In 1988, she graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Verma received a bachelor's degree in life sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1993.

Career Early career Verma was vice president of the Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, and worked at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in Washington, D.C.

SVC, Inc. Verma founded health policy consulting firm SVC, Inc. in June 2001. This proposal eventually became the Healthy Indiana Plan, which expanded coverage options to low-income individuals with employer-sponsored healthcare coverage. In 2016, Verma received the Sagamore of the Wabash, an honorary away in Indiana that "is a personal tribute usually given to those who have rendered a distinguished service to the state or to the governor".

In her work with Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, she developed Medicaid reform programs under the Section 1115 waiver process.

Verma sold SVC to Health Management Associates, based in Lansing, Michigan, after her confirmation as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. On March 13, 2017, the United States Senate confirmed her nomination in a bipartisan vote.

Healthcare policy and the ACA In November 2017, Verma outlined her plan for Medicaid. It included updates to the waiver process, encouraging work requirements for beneficiaries, and the creation of quality scorecards. One of her first actions was to send a letter to the nation's governors, urging them to impose insurance premiums for Medicaid, charge Medicaid recipients for emergency room visits, and encourage recipients to obtain employment or job training as a requirement for Medicaid coverage. Verma stated in the letter that she was concerned about the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid to non-disabled, working-age adults without dependent children, suggesting it may divert resources from more vulnerable populations. She was supportive of President Trump signing into law legislation that permitted states to withhold federal funds from facilities that provide abortions.

Verma was a vocal critic of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and referred to it as a "failed government program" during a national conference in 2019, while arguing for a more "consistent model" across payers. She advocated for a state-led, decentralized approach to the ACA, and supported states implementing work requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients. In 2018, Verma oversaw a $26 million cut to the Affordable Care Act Navigator Program, a government initiative that assists consumers in enrolling in health insurance through the health insurance marketplace. On July 25, 2018, Verma gave a speech in San Francisco in which she criticized proposals for "Medicare for all". She stated that single-payer health care would destroy Medicare, which provides insurance for elderly people, and lead to "Medicare for None." Rather than a nationalized, single-payer system, Verma supported market-based Medicare policies, such as a change that would allow enrollees in Medicare's managed care plans to "fire" their insurers if they didn't like their plan.

Agency dynamics During her tenure, Verma had a contentious relationship with Alex Azar, the HHS Secretary. The two reportedly clashed over which policies would replace Obamacare and who would get credit for those initiatives. In 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services brought in outside counsel to investigate allegations of sex discrimination, but found “no evidence”. Former Trump HHS official Heather Flick's inquiry reportedly said Verma had discussed with a lawyer a possible hostile work environment claim against then-HHS Secretary Tom Price; Verma denied she had done this.

The clashes extended to co-workers at CMS. Afterwards, the reporter of the Modern Healthcare article stated that he was told during a CMS press call that he wasn’t allowed to take part in it. The president of the Association of Health Care Journalists condemned this action

Coronavirus task force On March 2, 2020, the office of Vice President Mike Pence announced Verma's addition to the White House Coronavirus Task Force. As a part of the taskforce, Verma introduced temporary waivers and regulatory flexibilities for hospitals and healthcare providers.

In the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, she pushed Medicare career civil servant officials to finalize a plan to issue $200 prescription drug discount cards to Medicaid beneficiaries before the November 3 election, branded with Trump's name. The taxpayer-funded plan was estimated to cost $7.9 billion and draw from Medicare's trust fund.

Ethics and legal investigations On August 20, 2018, Verma filed a claim requesting that taxpayers reimburse her for jewelry and other items she alleged was stolen on a work-related trip to San Francisco, including a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant. Although she requested $47,000, she ultimately received $2,852.40 in reimbursement.

In her role as CMS administrator, Verma approved communications subcontracts worth more than $3.5 million of taxpayer funds to Republican-connected communications consultants and other expenses to boost her visibility and public image, leading to federal ethics investigations. Included in the consultants' work were proposals to have Verma featured in magazines like Glamour and have her invited to prestigious events to increase her public persona. Verma made an effort to purchase awards and honors for herself using taxpayer dollars. In July 2020, the HHS Inspector General reported that Verma spent more than $5 million in taxpayer funds to do communications work, and to help raise her profile. The report, a result of a 15-month investigation, concluded that Verma violated federal contracting rules.

In September 2020, Democrats on four congressional committees concluded The report from GAO, issued in 2023, concluded that CMS did not violate the purpose statute, publicity or propaganda prohibition, or publicity experts prohibition when it obligated appropriations for task orders for communication services.

In 2021, Verma said she lost her CMS-issued cell phone two days before President Biden's inauguration, resulting in the elimination of all of its stored records. Verma then failed to complete the standard form explaining how she lost her phone, the court records state. Verma was issued a new iPhone on January 18, which she returned nine days later. Records from that phone can not be accessed because the phone was locked and Verma said she had forgotten her passcode.

Oracle Verma told reporters she had "no regrets" about her actions or tenure. Verma joined the board of multiple healthcare firms. She was appointed as general manager and senior vice president at the Oracle Corporation in April 2023, reporting to CEO Mike Sicilia. In January 2024, her role was expanded to executive vice president, and she now oversees Oracle Health and Life Sciences.

Personal life Born in Virginia, Verma moved several times across the United States with her family, and once lived in Taiwan for five years, before settling in the greater Indianapolis area. Verma and her family live in Carmel, Indiana. SVC, Inc. had been awarded over $6.6 million in contracts from the State of Indiana, while Verma was concurrently employed with Hewlett-Packard, earning her over $1 million during a period when the company had secured $500 million in State of Indiana contracts. In 2016, her firm collected $316,000 for work done for the State of Kentucky as a subcontractor for Hewlett-Packard. In a written statement, Verma said she did not play a role in HP’s contracts with the state, and that “SVC has disclosed to both HP and the state the relationship with the other to be transparent." No action was taken and SVC continued to serve both contracts.