Seema Verma
A Carmel Resident Working to Reform A m e r i c a n H e a lt h c a r e Writer // Janelle Morrison • Photos Submitted
Editors Note: Given Seema Verma’s prominent position in the current coronavirus crisis, we felt it appropriate to reprint this story we ran in September 2017.
Perhaps some of you recognize her as someone you have passed in a grocery store aisle or out with her family enjoying one of the area restaurants. You may have engaged her and her family in conversation at the Carmel Farmers’ Market on a Saturday morning. What you may not know about Seema Verma is the work that she does during the week and how it affects every single American throughout the nation.
V
erma is an American health policy consultant and the current administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), serving under the Trump administration. On November 29, 2016, then President-elect Donald Trump nominated Verma to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the health department agency that oversees the Obamacare insurance markets, Medicare and Medicaid. On March 13, 2017, the U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination in a 55-43 vote, and she was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence on March 14, 2017. Verma reports directly to Dr. Tom
Price, the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is a member of the Cabinet and reports directly to President Trump. Emerging from the private sector into her current role was a natural transition as Verma was an established conservative healthcare policy reformer under Governor Mitch Daniels and continued to serve under former Governor Mike Pence during his administration. Her experience and practical knowledge of healthcare policy were what led to her appointment to the role that would put her at the helm of the nation’s healthcare reformation and redevelopment. Prior to her appointment in Washington, D.C., Verma has been pioneering
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new ways to approach Medicaid since authoring the Healthy Indiana Plan in 2007. Verma was the architect of this health insurance pilot program and would also work along with the aforementioned governors on creating “Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0.” In addition to her daunting responsibilities in D.C., she is a wife, mother of two and a proud resident of Carmel. Verma and her family moved to Carmel from the Indianapolis area in 2005. Her husband, Dr. Sanjay Mishra, is a child psychiatrist and runs a medical practice through the Indiana Health Group in Carmel, and they have a son and daughter. Verma is the founder and former CEO of SVC Inc., a health policy consulting firm that is based in Indianapolis. In an exclusive interview with Verma, she spoke about her appreciation for her home city of Carmel, her journey to her current role in D.C. and about the support and sacrifices that her entire family has made so that she could realize her goals and dreams and serve her country. “I was born in Virginia, but growing up, we lived in a lot of different places,” Verma shared. “We lived in Joplin, Missouri, which is a small town, and we lived right outside of Washington, D.C., when I was in high school, so I’ve lived in both large and small communities. We also lived overseas in Taiwan for about five years, so we’ve been in a lot of different places throughout my life. Living in the greater Indianapolis area is the longest that I’ve lived in any one place. We absolutely love the community, and I certainly love the roundabouts. It makes traffic easier to navigate.” In general, Verma said it was the amenities that the city of Carmel offers and the blend of a “small town and an upand-coming modern city” that she finds attractive about living here. “It’s like a small town when you go to the farmers’ market on a Saturday morning, or if you are at the library or grocery store, you always run into people that you know. We have a lot of great restaurants and shopping and great schools. It’s also great that we are close to Indianapolis and can easily travel downtown to get to a Pacers or Colts game.”
MARCH 2020
2020-03-23 4:01 PM
