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Seema Verma Resigns as CMS Administrator Ahead of Biden Inauguration

Verma announced via Twitter that she is resigning as CMS Administrator in preparation of administration shake-ups under President Biden.

Seema Verma announced on her Twitter today that she is resigning as CMS Administrator in preparation for a new Medicare and Medicaid leader coming in next week under the Biden administration.

President-elect Joe Biden has yet to name his pick for CMS Administrator. He has nominated Xavier Becerra, California’s Attorney General and one of the chief architects behind the Affordable Care Act’s defense in the current Supreme Court case, to lead HHS.

“Serving the American people with the talented and dedicated staff at CMS for nearly four years has been an honor for which I will always be grateful,” Verma shared from her resignation letter to President Trump today.

Verma was the longest-tenured CMS Administrator, serving nearly four years.

Previously, Verma served as president and CEO of SVC, Inc., a health policy consulting company she founded. She worked extensively on redesigning Medicaid programs and has been called the architect of the Healthy Indiana Plan, the first “consumer-directed” Medicaid program, HHS says.

Verma highlighted in her resignation letter CMS efforts to make healthcare more affordable, including new price transparency requirements and historic changes to state Medicaid programs such as the recent approval of a block grant funding structure in Tennessee.

She also emphasized the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including telehealth coverage expansions, some of which have been made permanent, and other waivers designed to support providers during the pandemic.

“Our agenda tackled longstanding problems in the healthcare system that preceding administrations of all ideological stripes had allowed to fester,” wrote Verma. “The alternative policy approach we have erected is no mere heady theory bandied about by policy wonks in think thanks; it boasts a concrete body of evidence arising from its having been actually implemented in the real world – with historic success.”

Verma’s last day as head of one of the largest federal agencies is Jan. 20, 2021.

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