HHS's Seema Verma squandered millions of taxpayer $$ on personal PR

[Tanuki]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/03/29/seema-verma-contracts-1306652
"The Trump appointee who oversees Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare quietly directed millions of taxpayer dollars in contracts to Republican communications consultants during her tenure atop the agency — including hiring one well-connected GOP media adviser to bolster her public profile.

The communications subcontracts approved by CMS Administrator Seema Verma — routed through a larger federal contract and described to POLITICO by three individuals with firsthand knowledge of the agreements — represent a sharp break from precedent at the agency. Those deals, managed by Verma’s deputies, came in some cases over the objections of CMS staffers, who raised concerns about her push to use federal funds on GOP consultants and to amplify coverage of Verma’s own work. CMS has its own large communications shop, including about two dozen people who handle the press.


Verma, a close ally of Vice President Mike Pence, has become a lightning rod for pushing work requirements in Medicaid and spearheading the Trump administration’s efforts to unilaterally unwind pieces of Obamacare. She previously worked as a consultant to conservative states seeking to reshape health care programs for the poor.

Her agency’s use of outside contracts and subcontracts is legal, but experts and current officials say it is not transparent and raises ethical questions.

“Outsourcing communications work to private contractors puts the agency's ability to protect ‘potentially market-moving’ information from premature disclosure at considerable risk,” said Andy Schneider, a Medicaid expert who worked at CMS during the Obama administration and is now a researcher at Georgetown University.

(More at link)

[at140]

1. The waste & abuse in gov't each year is much bigger than

all the armed robberies during the year. Medicare fraud each year boggles my mind.

[at140]

2. $5 says Seema Verma will never see inside of a prison.

She will skate free as do most gov't big shots abusing the system.

[Ohiogal]

3. She is a cruel, evil, witch

There's a special place in the fiery afterlife for her and Pence.