Senate confirms Trump pick to head Medicare and Medicaid

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Senate confirms Trump pick to head Medicare and Medicaid

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Mar. 13, 2017 6:34 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's pick to run Medicare and Medicaid won confirmation Monday from a divided Senate as lawmakers braced for another epic battle over the government's role in health care and society's responsibility toward the vulnerable.

Indiana health care consultant Seema Verma, a protégé of Vice President Mike Pence, was approved by a 55-43 vote, largely along party lines. She'll head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a $1 trillion agency that oversees health insurance programs for more than 130 million people, from elderly nursing home residents to newborns. It's part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Verma, a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from India, takes over at CMS as a House Republican health care bill backed by Trump would make sweeping changes to the agency.

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In Indiana, Verma designed a Medicaid expansion along conservative lines for Pence. Most beneficiaries are required to pay modest premiums. And the program uses financial rewards and penalties to steer patients to primary care providers instead of the emergency room. Critics say the plan has been confusing for beneficiaries and some have incurred penalties through no fault of their own.

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Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ce856978db2a4f8384f5e244a266ae8e/senate-confirms-trump-pick-head-medicare-and-medicaid

[Me.]

1. Which Dems Voted For Her?

[cstanleytech]

2. Doesnt matter imo as even if they had all voted no she would have still been appointed as

the Repugnants have majority control right now, hopefully we can greatly change that and swing it to a clear Democratic majority in Congress in a few years but it wont be easy especially for the House as the Democrats will have to contend with massive Repugnant gerrymandering in some states.

[Me.]

3. It Matters To Me

To know who would vote for her and her plans. And yes we all know about gerrymandering which makes a difficult job even more so when certain Dems keeps pandering.

[cstanleytech]

4. No, pandering is if they vote yes for the current health care "plan" but these are just cabinet

positions and while they can cause alot of damage they do have limits and truly massive changes have to be approved by Congress so we need to work on keeping what seats we have when we can and focus on making more inroads rather than commit seppuku over something like this vote.

[Me.]

5. We Disagree

Both matter and if they didn't there wouldn't be so much concern over both. And all these cabinet secretaries were put in place because each wants to destroy the very department over which they now have control and congress will be only too pleased to pass whatever draconian measures they elect. In addition, Congress aiding and abetting isn't always necessary, the newly appointed AG is proof of that.

[cstanleytech]

6. Oh we dont totally disagree I mean I think these are horrible choices for these cabinets but

the reality is that the Dems completely lack the power to block them, if they had the power to block it I could understand being pissed at some voting for them but otherwise *shrug*

[Me.]

7. Well I Think It Important

Especially now to let DEms know what principles you stand for and consider important. Do you agree with the choice of a cabinet secretary and that's why you voted for the guy who is going to do his best to give us filthy air and dirty water? Do you so devalue a public school education that you want to see the money turned over to privateers of schools? And how about those public lands...let's hand those over to be pillaged for whatever small gains can be found and while we're at it, let's saw off a couple of more mountain tops. Cause if you do, you're not the person we want as one of our rsps.

So they can't stop the choices...ok but then, don't collude, especially if you are trying to win over voters.

[cstanleytech]

8. I already said these are "horrible" choices for the cabinet positions.

I just am not angry at a handful of Dems for voting for them due to the fact that blocking them wasnt even remotely possible.