Senator Hassan Statement on CMS Administrator Nominee Seema Verma

Senator Hassan Statement on CMS Administrator Nominee Seema Verma

WASHINGTON - Today, Senator Maggie Hassan met with Seema Verma, President Trump's nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). Following their meeting, Senator Hassan released the following statement:

"While I appreciated the opportunity to sit down with Ms. Verma, I remain very concerned that she would pursue a partisan agenda as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that would hurt the health and economic well-being of New Hampshire. During our meeting, I expressed my strong disagreement with Ms. Verma's comments in her hearing indicating that she believes insurance companies shouldn't be required to cover critical services like maternity care for women. I also pressed Ms. Verma on the importance of requiring insurance companies to cover substance use disorder services, noting that many insurance companies didn't provide this coverage until they were required to by the Affordable Care Act. Finally, I expressed the urgent need to address the high cost of prescription drugs and pushed Ms. Verma to support allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. Over the coming days, I will continue to review Ms. Verma's record and qualifications for this position."

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