Seema Verma, president and founder of SVC Inc., gets into an elevator as she arrives at Trump Tower, Nov. 22, in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are in the process of filling cabinet and other high level positions for the new administration. (Drew Angerer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
President-elect Donald Trump nominated a second Indian American woman to a top administration position, putting her in charge of a federal agency within the health department as part of a \u201cdream team\u201d which he said would transform America\u2019s healthcare system, writes Lalit K. Jha.<\/b> \u2013 @siliconeer #siliconeer #realDonaldTrump #DonaldTrump #WhiteHouse #NikkiHaley #SeemaVerma #Healthcare<\/p>\n
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\u201cI am pleased to nominate Seema Verma to serve as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,\u201d Trump said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The announcement came along with Trump\u2019s nomination of Congressman Tom Price as his Health and Human Services Secretary.<\/p>\n
A leading expert in the country on Medicare and Medicaid, Verma would serve as Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has decades of experience advising on Medicare and Medicaid policy and helping states navigate our complicated systems. Together, Chairman Price and Seema Verma are the dream team that will transform our healthcare system for the benefit of all Americans,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am honored to be nominated by President-elect Trump,\u201d said Verma, who met Trump in New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to helping him tackle our nation\u2019s daunting healthcare problems in a responsible and sustainable way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her nomination comes days after Indian-American Nikki Haley was named as U.S. envoy to the United Nations by Trump.<\/p>\n
Haley had scripted history by becoming the first-ever Indian American to be appointed to a cabinet-level post in any U.S. administration.<\/p>\n
Verma currently is the President, CEO and founder of SVC, Inc., a national health policy consulting company.<\/p>\n
Based in Indianapolis, Verma has supported Indiana through development of the historic program since its inception in 2007, from development of the enabling legislation, negotiating the financing plan with the state\u2019s hospital association, developing the federal waiver, supporting federal negotiations and leading the implementation of the program, including the operational design.<\/p>\n
For more than 20 years, she has worked extensively on a variety of policy and strategic projects involving Medicaid, insurance, and public health, working with Governors\u2019 offices, state Medicaid agencies, state health departments, state departments of insurance, as well as the federal government, private companies and foundations.<\/p>\n
\u201cVerma has extensive experience redesigning Medicaid programs in several states. Verma is the architect of the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), the nation\u2019s first consumer directed Medicaid program under Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana and then-Governor Pence\u2019s HIP 2.0 waiver proposal,\u201d said the presidential transition team.<\/p>\n
Verma received her Master\u2019s degree in Public Health, with a concentration in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins University, and her Bachelor\u2019s degree in Life Sciences from the University of Maryland.<\/p>\n
She served as the state of Indiana\u2019s health reform lead following the passage of Obamacare in 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seema Verma, president and founder of SVC Inc., gets into an elevator as she arrives at Trump Tower, Nov. 22, in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are in the process of filling cabinet and other high level positions for the new administration. (Drew Angerer\/Getty Images) President-elect Donald Trump nominated a…<\/p>\n