By DAN DIAMOND 12/09/2019 02:45 PM EST Updated:
12/09/2019 03:10 PM EST
Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) Monday became the first
lawmaker to call on the official overseeing Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare to
resign over POLITICO reports he said reveal “a gross misuse of public funds.”
Kennedy
called on Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services, to step down after POLITICO this weekend reported she had asked taxpayers to cover
the cost of $47,000 in stolen jewelry and other goods that were
swiped during a work trip. Kennedy had also clashed with Verma during a
congressional hearing this fall over her steering of more than $2
million toward public relations contractors, some of whom worked to
burnish Verma's personal brand.
“We have
now seen a systemic effort by the administrator to use public funds to elevate
her own position,” Kennedy said in an interview, adding that CMS has largely
ignored his questions about Verma's PR contractors, which were revealed by
POLITICO earlier this year. Verma testified in October that the outside
contracting work was "consistent" with CMS practice and was intended
to promote the agency's agenda.
Kennedy's
office said he is the first lawmaker to call on Verma's resignation in light of
reports that raise questions about her stewardship of taxpayer funds. It comes
as Verma is also facing heightened scrutiny over her increasingly dysfunctional
relationship with HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
Responding
to Kennedy's remarks, CMS defended Verma's work in a statement to POLITICO.
“The administrator’s number one priority is continuing to deliver on the
president’s bold health care agenda to ensure Americans have access to high
quality, affordable health care," an agency spokesperson said.
CMS this
weekend defended Verma’s claim for stolen jewelry, saying that counsel in HHS —
which oversees CMS — instructed Verma to file detailed claims for all items
that were stolen from her rented SUV while she gave a speech in San Francisco
last year. She was reimbursed only $2,852.40 for her claim, according to CMS.
The jewelry was not insured.
“The
irony is not lost on me that an administrator of health care services for tens
of millions of people had decided to forgo insurance and was looking for a
government bailout,” Kennedy said. “That’s the entire point of insurance.”
Kennedy,
who's bidding to unseat Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in a
Democratic primary, has also been an outspoken critic of the Trump
administration's health care policies. In the same October hearing with Verma,
he condemned her signature Medicaid effort requiring some beneficiaries to work
to maintain coverage.
Kennedy
said he's only calling for Verma's resignation, but he criticized HHS for being
“largely silent” about questions regarding Verma’s use of public funds.
“I don’t
think that speaks highly of anybody there,” he said.
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